What's Left Of Me
by BrOkEn2NiTe
Summary: Logan comes back to the mansion after 3 years to find a very cold Rogue in the place of the Marie he left behind. How will he be able to prove to her where his heart truly lies? Complete! ReadReview puhlease!
1. Chapter 1 Anger

**+ change of scene. Set after X-2 and I may make a few changed, X-3 never happened. If there are any spoilers to X-3 I'll be sure to warn ya'll. I don't think that their should be though.**

Chapter 1 "Anger"

Logan stood in front of the gate at the entrance of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, not quite ready to go inside. It had been nearly three years since Jean's death and just as long as it had been since he'd been back to the mansion.

Logan had too much pride to admit that he was nervous to face the others so he stood there, smoking a cigar. In the last three years Logan had reverted back to his old lifestyle, moving from town to town, making a living fighting cage matches and even a little boxing. It was the same life of solitude he had had before the X-Men found him, and yet he found himself missing the life he had come to appreciate in the mansion.

He missed the professor and his wisdom, Storm and her spunk. Hell, he even missed Scott's constant badgering and all the little brats running around everywhere. But most of all, he realized, he missed Rogue. He missed _Marie_.

Just as Logan finished his cigar and mentally prepared himself to go inside, out wheeled Professor Xavier.

"Welcome back Logan." He said in his usually smooth, calm, accent laced voice. Logan through his bad over his shoulder and shifted his weight from leg to leg.

"How's it goin' Professor?" Logan mumbled, giving a try at being polite. The professor smiled.

"You know you should really start calling me Charles." Said the professor and Logan chuckled. "How long to you plan to remain this time?" Charles

asked, turning his wheelchair around and heading inside the mansion.

"For good… if I'm still welcome." Logan muttered. He'd been worried that after being gone so long they wouldn't want him just coming back in uninvited. Charles chuckled.

"We left your room empty for you. I had a feeling you would be back." Logan chuckled. Damn telepaths, he thought.

"I heard that." Charles quipped as they entered the mansion.

Logan drank in the site of the front rooms. He sniffed at the air and caught a familiar scent, and then saw Storm walking down the stairs.

"Logan?" Her eyes widened in surprise, shock radiating off of her. She nearly leapt down the rest of the stairs and ran to him, hugging him tightly. He chuckled deep in his chest, hugging her equally as tight.

"You cut your hair. Looks good." Logan said smiling. Storm ran an absent hand through it and smiled.

Logan sniffed the air and was nearly overwhelmed by all of the different scents his nose caught. He wasn't used to be so near people and it was starting to make him antsy.

"Logan, perhaps you would like to go up to your room for a bit?" Charles suggested, sensing Logan's sudden anxiety. Logan nodded and started to climb the stairs to his old room. He decided that after he got settled in and a bit more adjusted, he would go find Marie.

"Have you talked to him about Rogue?" Storm asked Charles.

"I felt it ill timing. I will tell him when he's a little more settled down. Life on the road has been hard on him Storm." Charles answered wisely, scratching his chin.

"How do you think he'll react to her…changes?" Storm asked, realizing the word change was putting it mildly. Charles felt Storms concern.

"The question is," Charles sighed. "Is how she will react when she finds out he has returned."

"How long is he staying?" Storm asked, her voice hard and laced with concern.

"For good this time, I'm sure of it." Charles said, trying to assure Storm and calm her worries. He knew what she was thinking. Logan couldn't come waltzing in and out of Rogue's life.

Logan put his few worldly possessions away in the chest of drawers and hung up some jeans in the closet before setting out to find Marie. He was positive that she was still there. Charles and Storm would have told him otherwise.

Logan went down the hallway to Marie's old room and hesitantly knocked on the door. The last time that they had spoken it hadn't gone so well, to say the least, and he wasn't sure if she even wanted to see him. Imagine the shock he got when a petite Asian girl dressed in all yellow opened the door and stared at him, wide eyed, mouth wide open.

"Holy crap! You're back!" She said in a shrill voice. Logan cocked an eyebrow.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked gruffly. "Where's Marie?"

"Marie? Oh, you mean Rogue! Um, she's down in the Danger Room working out like always." She said quickly, pausing only to catch her breath. Then she stuck her hand out. "I'm Jubilee!" Logan reluctantly shook the girls hand.

"Okay, well, how the hell do you know me?" Logan asked, trying to keep his cool with this very bubbly girl.

"There's a picture of you with the rest of the X-Men on Professor Xavier's desk. I can't believe you're here! But you may not want to go down to the Danger Room…." Jubilee wound a piece of her dark black hair around her finger. Logan smelled her nervousness.

"Why?" Logan's voice grew deep and he could sense Jubilee becoming tenser.

"Just trust me…"

"I don't know you. Why the hell would I trust you?"

"You really don't wanna go down there…"

"That settles it. I'm goin'." And with that, Logan started off to the Danger Room.

When he reached the lower levels he realized there were a few new additions to the place. As he got closer to the Danger Room he realized that they had added an observation deck. It was a balcony jutting out into the room about half an inch, boxed in by a two way mirror. And sitting on this balcony was Charles Xavier.

"I knew you would come looking for her eventually." Charles said, smiling sadly.

"Yeah, some chick in yellow told me where to find her." Logan grumbled, remembering the over-active Asian. He had a feeling that he'd be spending more time then he wanted with this girl now that he was home. Charles chuckled.

"Yes, Jubilee and Kitty are Rogue's roommates and friends. I'm sure you'll see Kitty around with Bobby Drake." Charles said. Logan raised an eyebrow.

"I thought Bobby was Marie's guy?" Logan questioned. As soon as he said this, the lights on the small observation deck dimmed, and Logan saw the figure of a female step into the Danger Room. The simulation had started and he heard Charles sigh.

"You're going to find out fairly soon that much has changed here in the mansion since the day you left."

Logan inhaled deeply, trying to catch on to Marie's scent. It was still fairly the same. A mixture of Lavender and femininity… but something had changed. He no longer could smell the innocence or joy in her. She was clouded with sadness, hopelessness, and anger. The anger was radiating off of her in waves.

Logan nearly gasped as he saw her ferociously attack the simulation figures. She'd set it at the highest danger level, which meant that the simulation was as lifelike as it could be. Logan saw Marie using two long sharp knives to slice her attackers. He saw her tangling with simulations of Sabertooth and Toad fairly easily, fighting them both at once.

"When did she become so…" Logan trailed off, not able to find the words.

"Angry." Charles finished with a sigh.

Logan shook his head, remembering the last time that they had spoken. He'd known that he had hurt her… but not like this.

Simulation Mystique was the only one left. Logan watched she and Marie circled one another carefully, sizing one another up. Logan saw Marie lunge, catching a foot to the face by Mystique. Marie jumped back and attacked again, this time somehow getting behind Mystique and getting her in a choke hold. The simulation Mystique looked up at the observation deck and smirked. Logan looked down at Charles who seemed unaffected. Marie looked up briefly, as if also feeling the presence of people, and then coldly slit Mystique's throat and the simulation was complete.

Logan started toward the door entering the Danger Room when he heard Charles's voice.

"Logan, she isn't the girl you remember. Rogue is a grown woman now, a teacher here. She's not the person you left behind." Logan nodded and walked into the Danger Room.

Marie was wiping off her knives on her pants when the doors slid open and Logan walked in. He stood in the door taking a long look at her. She was in her uniform, covered from the neck down, and yet he could see a change in her. She was still as beautiful as she'd always been, but her features were hard and unforgiving.

"Marie…" Logan began but she just walked right by him.

"My name is Rogue." She said coldly, her voice like a block of ice, then walked out of the room, leaving Logan alone with the memory of the last night he had ever been in the mansion

Flashback+

Logan had gathered all of his things quickly. It had been a week since the incident at Alkali Lake and Logan couldn't stay in the mansion anymore. He needed time to clear his thoughts and he couldn't do it there.

He snuck down to the parking garage as quietly as possible. He didn't want anyone to know he was leaving. He didn't want to deal with all the goodbye's, especially from a certain someone.

He was about to mount Scott's motorcycle when he caught her scent coming from the doorway and he froze.

"Runnin' again?" She asked, her Southern accent thick with sleep and confusion.

"I just need to get away for a while." Logan said, barely having the courage to turn around and face her.

Marie stood there in the doorway with a long white flowy nightgown that covered every inch of her. She looked like an angel. My angel, Logan thought, and then shook his head. Those were the kind of thoughts Logan needed to escape from.

"Get away from what?" Marie asked heatedly, putting her hands on her hips and tapping her foot. Leave it to her to challenge me, Logan thought.

"Everything." He said.

"Even me." Those words stung Logan. It wasn't a question, but a statement.

"Yes, even you." Logan wanted to slap himself for saying those words, but it was the truth, and he'd never lie to Marie. Not even to spare her feelings. He could see tears filling her eyes from where he stood.

"Fine then! Go ahead and run away! See if I care!" Marie was trying her best to keep from crying but the tears spilled out anyway. Logan stepped toward her but Marie just backed away. "Don't you dare take pity on me!" She yelled.

"Marie, it isn't like that!" Logan tried, but before he knew it, Marie was reaching inside her nightgown and pulled out his dog tags. She'd never given them back to him. She pulled them off of her and threw them on the ground in front of his feet.

"Just go Logan! But this time, I'm not waiting for you to come back!" And with that, Marie was gone, leaving only the scent of tears and heartbreak behind.

Logan wrestled with the idea of running after her, grabbing her, holding her and trying to explaining things to her so that she would understand, but he knew he couldn't do that. It would only do more harm to her than good. So Logan road off into the night, never knowing what damage he had truly done.

End of flashback+

Logan heard Charles clear his throat.

"What happened to her?" Logan asked, his voice a bit shaky from shock.

"We've been living with what you left behind for three years now." Charles said sadly. Logan shook his head. "Come my boy; let's take a walk out onto the grounds."

"About a month or two after you left us I helped Rogue learn how to control her powers." Charles explained to Logan as they walked through the garden toward the rear of the mansion.

"She can touch?" Logan exclaimed. "That's wonderful!" But Charles gave him a grim look.

"Since then I believe she hasn't allowed anyone to come into contact with her." He said sadly.

"What about Popsicle boy?" Logan asked. Charles chuckled.

"Rogue broke up with Bobby a few days after you left the mansion. It was for the best for they have remained good friends." Logan nodded at Charles' explanation.

"So… why won't she let anyone touch her?" Charles gave Logan a knowing glance.

"She's been waiting. She wants to make sure it's the right person. She has been without human contact for so long, she wants the first person she touches willingly to be… someone special." Logan shook his head.

"Who?" Logan asked dumbly.

"Who do you think?"

"Can't be me. I don't think she likes me much."

"I think that metal has gone to your brain Logan. Rogue has always loved you, whether or not you've known it or not. Those feelings haven't faded, only clouded with anger and grief." Charles sighed. "She believed that you left because of the loss of Jean."

"You know that isn't true." Logan choked.

"I know Logan. Now the only person you have to convince is Rogue."

Logan shook his head. He didn't know how to prove anything to the woman he had seen in the Danger Room. Charles had been right; she was no longer the Marie that he had left behind. She was someone darker, harder, and colder. She was someone he didn't know anymore. She was Rogue.

**Authors Note: My first X-Men fic! Folks leave me lots of comments! **


	2. Chapter 2 Slap in the face

**I'm experimenting with ways to show a change of scene. I think I'll just try one + sign and see if it works this time lol! Thanks for the reviews ya'll! Keep em' comin'! **

**Chapter 2 " Slap in the face"**

"What do you mean _you_ told him where to find me?" Rogue roared at Jubilee.

Rogue had come stomping into the room that she shared with Jubilee and Kitty after seeing Logan in the Danger Room. She'd been shocked at the sight of him. She hadn't seen him in over three years and then he just walks right back in like nothing happened.

Jubilee basically ignored Rogue's ranting and raving. She and Kitty had learned over the past few years that the best way to deal with Rogue's attitude was just let her rant and rave until she was blue in the face.

"How was I supposed to know you didn't want to see him?" Jubilee asked, not looking up from her toenails that she was painting while sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Possibly because you're one of my best friends and you should know how I feel about that hairy Neanderthal!" Rogue yelled. Jubilee glanced up at her.

"Yeah, I know how you feel about him. You're in love with him." She said, point blank. Rogue's jaw dropped. Jubilee sighed. "I'm not walking on egg shells around you when it comes to Logan. I never have. You're right, Kitty and I are your best friends, and if we can't tell you how it is, who can?"

Rogue walked over and sat on the window seal, leaning over until she felt the cool glass against her sweaty forehead. She saw Logan and the Professor walking leisurely, seemingly deep in conversation. Probably talkin' about me, Rogue thought.

Rogue knew that she had changed almost drastically in the past few years. She had finally come to terms with her mutation and the fact that she would never touch, and after Logan left, it hadn't mattered anyway. Though she was with Bobby at the time, Logan was the only person she'd ever really wanted to touch anyway. But when she learned to control her powers…everything changed.

Something snapped in her the day she touched the Professor without hurting him. The day that she could turn her power on like a switch in her mind. The day she realized that, even though she could finally experience that intimate skin to skin contact, it didn't matter anymore. He was gone. He had left her and no amount of wishing and wanting was gonna bring him back. That was the day that Marie was swallowed by the anger and grief that she had been dealing with since the day that Logan drove away from her, leaving his dog tags laying on the garage floor, and was no longer the person she had been. She was the Rogue and she was going to stay that way.

Rogue thanked God for Kitty and Jubilee. They were the only two people that could break her down just a little bit and make her smile. But right now she was about ready to rip Jubilee's head off. And that was when Kitty, the ever peace maker, came sprinting through the door.

"Logan's back!" Kitty cried, leaping up and down. Rogue gave her a cold stare.

"She knows." Jubilee muttered, still painting her nails.

"Oh! So you've seen him? Gosh, isn't he still the most handsome thing you've ever seen?" Kitty sighed, plopping dramatically down onto her bed, pretending to faint.

"I wish Bobby could hear you say that." Rogue mumbled, not taking her eyes off of Logan and the Professor in the court yard below.

"Oh, Bobby knows I'm not interested in the Wolverine. He's your man. Always has been, always will be." Kitty said cheerfully. Rogue rolled her eyes.

"He's never been mine." She said sadly.

"Of course he has." Kitty said.

"Rogue's pretending not to love Logan, remember? She's been in this 'I'm pissed at the world' state of mind for the past three years over that guy, remember?" Jubilee said to Kitty.

"Shut up Jub's." Rogue snapped.

"No." Jubilee said simply. Rogue almost laughed. Leave it to Jubilee to be the only person in the mansion with enough balls to stand up to her. Rogue got up and hugged Jubilee.

"I love you both. But don't tell anyone." And with that she walked out of the room. She needed to do something to clear her mind so she decided to go outside for a little walk… as far away from Logan as she could get.

Logan left Charles in the court yard so that he could go for a quick walk out in the woods to clear his head a little. It was hard for him to stomach some of the things Charles had told him about the changed Marie had been going through. He was thrilled that she could touch again but hated the fact that she wouldn't. Logan knew, of all people, how badly Marie wanted to simply hug someone without flinching away from them… but that Marie was gone. And it was up to Logan to salvage whatever could possibly be left.

Logan was walking through the woods when he picked up an odd noise with his sensitive hearing. It sounded like string popping and something hitting wood going fast.

He walked toward the noise quietly, getting further into the woods that were behind the mansion with every step he took, until he saw a girl practicing archery about a yard away from him. He nearly shrugged it off and turned around until he recognized the scent. Marie…

He took several careful steps, making sure not to make a sound, and watched her put another arrow into her bow and pull back. He was paying so much attention to her perfect form that he got sloppy and stepped on a twig which made a loud snap. Rogue whirled around and let the arrow fly, hitting the tree growing next to him, about an inch away from his face.

"That's what you get for trying to sneak up on people." Rogue muttered, turning her back toward him. She tried to act unaffected by his presence but Logan could smell her surprise and nervousness.

"Good thing you missed, huh?" Logan said, taking a few cautious steps toward where she was standing. She visibly tensed but allowed him to stand next to her.

"I was aiming for the tree." She said evenly, without feeling.

"Oh…"

"What do you want Logan?" Rogue sighed, slinging the bag of arrows over her shoulder and putting her bow away.

"Since when did you learn archery?" Logan asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"I've been practicing archery ever since I was a little girl." Rogue said a hint of a smile on her lips. Her accent's still as thick as ever, Logan thought. At least her Southern charm ain't changed.

"You never told me that." Logan said surprised.

"There were a lot of things I never told you because you never asked Logan. Now please, what do you want?" Rogue was beginning to get impatient. Being next to him made her feel like a little school girl again. All of her feelings were coming back to her and she decided that hating him was much easier than loving him.

"I wanted to see you. Is that too much to ask?" Logan said, getting a little defensive, even though he knew he had no right to be. She was right, there was a lot about her he didn't know because he never asked when he should had.

"After three years? Yes." Rogue said coldly and started walking toward the mansion. Logan followed.

"Look Marie…"

"Rogue." She interrupted. Logan sighed.

"Fine, Rogue, whatever the hell your name is. I'm sorry for the way I left but, you really never let me explain…"

"Explain what?" Rogue whirled around, stopping dead in her tracks. "You told me point blank that you had to get away from everything, and _everything_ included me. I don't want a damn explanation from you now Logan. It's too late. I'm not the person I used to be."

"Apparently," Logan muttered.

"Excuse me?" Rogue demanded.

"You're angry, I get that, but why did you have to become so cold?"

"You're one to talk. I do recall being stabbed in the chest and nearly killed quite a few years ago." Rogue said coolly, her voice never rising. She started to walk away but Logan grabbed her sleeved arm. Rogue wouldn't let herself flinch even though it hurt. She just jerked her head around and their eyes met.

"Now you listen here," Logan growled. But he never had a chance to finish because Rogue punched him in the face so hard he released her and nearly fell backward. No one had punched him that hard in years! Not even in one of his cage matches!

"Dear God!" Logan said, shaking his head.

"Now you listen here," Rogue growled. Her voice was low and threatening and Logan knew he'd crossed the line.

"You have no right to come back into my life and expecting everything to be the same. I am different. I am angry and cold and that's because you made me this way. Don't expect to come back and just have me melt back into your arms because it's not gonna work like that this time. So don't you dare pass judgment on me you bastard!" She spat.

When she tried to walk away Logan didn't try to stop her. Shit, he thought, rubbing his jaw in the place she'd hit him. Getting close to her was going to be a challenge. Logan sighed. It wasn't healthy for Rogue to hold all of that hurt inside of her. He had to make her understand. But how?

Rogue went back to her room, slamming the door so hard behind her she thought a few splinters flew off, but she paid no mind. She threw her bag of arrows and her bow under her bed and plopped down onto her bed.

She rolled her shoulders, trying to work the tenseness out of her muscles. Rogue almost couldn't believe she'd hit Logan! She remembered a time when that would have been a possibly very dangerous thing to do.

The Rogue in her wanted her to sneer. So the great Wolverine had been tamed. Rogue would never let anyone get away with someone hitting her in the face like that. She'd tear them apart.

On the other hand, the small portion of her that was still Marie knew in her heart that Logan would never lay a hand on her. Sure he'd snatched her by the arm, but that was to get her to pay attention because she was being cruel. He'd never purposely hurt her…

The Rogue inside mentally slapped Marie. Logan _had_ hurt her. He'd broken her heart, rode off into the night, and never looked back. That, in her opinion, was worse then a slap in the face.

**Authors Note: Woohoo. Not sure where I'm gonna go from here. Could use some help from reviewers folks! Cmon! Thanks to the whole like 2 folks that have reviewed so far lol! **


	3. Chapter 3 Marie

**I can't figure out how to show a change of scene so any suggestions? won't let me do much so someone help me out. Either that or ya'll can figure out a change of scene on your own! lol **

**Chapter 3 "Rogue and Marie"**

"A dance Charles? Are you sure?" Storm shook her head, surprised by the Professors suggestion.

"Quite," Said Charles cheerfully. "It's the beginning of spring and we've had beautiful weather and I think it would be a splendid idea. We've never had a dance before and I think it would give the students a chance to mingle and have a little fun."

"Maybe it'll be fun." Scott mumbled from the chair he was sitting in front of Charles' desk.

Since Jean's death Scott had somewhat pulled himself away from the other X-Men. His role as leader had more or less been taken over by Storm, but due to Logan's return to the mansion almost three weeks ago, Scott had somewhat returned to the land of the living. "I have to make sure that idiot in sideburns doesn't cause any trouble." He'd said.

"Yes," Storm sighed. "Or maybe we'll be pulling hormone driven teenagers off one another all evening." Charles chuckled.

"I think we can handle it." He said.

"Handle what?" Logan asked, somewhat jogging into Charles' office. "Sorry I'm late." He added.

In the weeks Logan had been back at the mansion he'd become a full member of the X-Men again and was also added onto the staff there at the mansion. He now was a sub for any of the teachers that were unable to make it to class and helped Scott out teaching Shop everyday.

Rogue had just about avoided Logan like the plague. He'd done almost everything he could think of to get her to talk to him but to no avail. He'd sometimes smell her out and find her in the kitchen sneaking a midnight snack and try to strike up a conversation. The last time he tried this he got a piece of cake smashed into his chest and a slur of curse words from her all the way back to her room.

And there she was standing next to the window, arms crossed over her chest, and a hard look on her face.

"A dance. They want to have a spring dance." Rogue said her voice cold and emotionless like always. In three weeks Logan had only heard her laugh while walking by her room late at night while she was talking to her friends Jubilee and Kitty.

"Let me know what day so I can make sure I'm not here." Logan said wide eyed. "I'm not gonna' be anywhere near this fiasco."

"Oh yes you are!" Storm snapped. "If we have to chaperone this thing then you will suffer right along with us."

"Says who? You?" Logan growled, cocking an eyebrow at Storm.

"Says me." Charles said, his voice definite and eyes on Logan. "Now, I thought about having it outside…"

The group discussed the idea of a dance for the next hour. They decided the dance would be a week from that day, on a Friday evening. Logan just about went out of his mind, so he preoccupied himself by studying Marie as covertly as possible.

She was now leaning against the wall, all of her weight on her shoulder, looking interested. The more they discussed the dance the softer her face grew and the more eager she looked.

A _dance_? Rogue actually wanted to go to a dance? Logan was pondering this for a moment when he heard someone saying his name.

"Huh? Oh sorry, um, what?" Logan cleared his throat.

"I said," Charles repeated. "If you do not want to attend the dance as a chaperone then that should be fine. We should have enough."

"No!" Logan jumped forward a little too quickly. "No, I think I'll stick around for this. Might be fun scaring the shit outta some kids tryin to feel up on each other." He said, trying to regain his composure.

"Logan!" Storm exclaimed but then just shook her head and laughed.

"So does that mean I don't have to go?" Rogue asked. Logan's head jerked toward Charles and he sent him every single mental plea he could think of to try to convince Charles to make Rogue go to this dance.

"I think it will be good for you to get out Rogue." Charles said, carefully weighing his words. "Besides, I'm going to get Jubilee and Kitty to help with the decorations and I am sure they won't let you miss the dance." He chucked. Rogue sighed.

"Alright, I'll be there." She said with her twangy Southern draw.

Logan wanted to jump for joy at this, but of course, he kept his composure. If anything he didn't want Marie to know that he was even the tiniest bit excited about this dance.

Charles cleared his throat and his expression changed. Everyone knew that there were more important matters to discuss now and it was time to get serious.

"Now that the idea of a dance is settled, let's get on with other business." He said seriously. "The Brotherhood is planning another attack. I'm not quite sure what, but I have reason to believe that they have possibly kidnapped a mutant by the name of Remy, also known as Gambit."

"What do they want with this Gambit?" Storm asked.

"He is a trained thief and has an ability similar to Scott's, only his heat rays do not come from his eyes, but can be transported into random objects. His weapon of choice is a deck of cards. He would be a great asset to The Brotherhood." Charles explained.

"Has he sided with The Brotherhood?" Scott asked. He was already formulating a plan on a possible rescue in his mind.

"No, I believe not." Charles explained. "I feel that he is resentful for being taken from his home down South by force so he is refusing to cooperate."

"He's Southern?" Rogue asked intently, her eyes momentarily lighting up. Logan frowned and Charles chuckled in Logan's direction, no doubt hearing his jealous thoughts.

"Yes Rogue, he's from Louisiana. He's Cajun." Charles replied.

"So, are we gonna go rescue the Cajun?" Logan asked gruffly. Charles simply smiled.

"Tomorrow morning, before dawn." Charles nodded.

The rest of that day went by slowly for Logan. Shop class felt like it went on _forever._ One kid cut his hand wide open on a sharp piece of metal and Logan had to take him to the infirmary where Dr. Hank McCoy had to put a few stitches in. Logan thanked his lucky stars that he had his mutation.

That night, close to midnight, Logan found himself wide awake and full of energy so he went down to the Danger Room to have a bit of a work out.

He smelled her before he got down to the lower levels. Her scent only became stronger as he got closer to his destination. A mixture of lavender, tears, sweat, and hatred hung in the air. Rogue was angry. Whoever Rogue was fighting in the Danger Room, she hated with almost every inch of her being.

Logan had never felt anger and hatred in waves such as this, not even coming from himself. When the Wolverine took over, Logan could feel some very strong emotions, but not even he felt this much hatred coming from one person.

Logan made his way to the observation deck, hoping Rogue wouldn't sense his presence. When he got to the observation deck Logan was shocked at what he saw unfolding in the room below.

Rogue was fighting a simulation of herself and she looked as if she was fighting to the death. Both simulation and real Rogue were covered in blood. The only way Logan could tell which was the real Rogue was by her panting. She looked exhausted, as if they had been sparring for hours. Logan knew there was no way Rogue could last much longer.

He hesitated before running down to the Danger Room. If he just stormed in on her during an apparent very personal moment, she'd simply hate him even more than she did already. Then he saw simulation Rogue land a hard right to real Rogue's face, sending her straight to her knees. Logan's mind was made up.

When the Danger Room doors swung open Logan turned off the simulation. The simulation of Rogue disappeared almost instantly, right before striking Rogue again. Rogue remained on her knees, hands on the ground, and panting as if gasping for breath.

Logan ran to her but didn't touch her. Instead, he knelt beside her and stayed there until she was ready to move. Logan listened to her heavy breathing, which turned into hard sobs.

"Marie…" Logan whispered.

"Don't!" Rogue screamed. "Just don't…" She said softer.

"Come on; let's get you to the infirmary." Logan stood up and offered her hand. She glanced up at him, her hair soaked with blood and sweat. She nodded and stood up, not taking his hand.

Rogue was shaky on her feet but Logan knew she would accept no help from him. Her pride was already hurt by him helping her in the Danger Room and taking her to get patched up.

"I hope Dr. McCoy isn't there." Logan heard her mutter.

"I understand." Logan replied. She simply glanced at him. "I'll just help you clean some of those scratches and we'll just keep it between us." Rogue nodded.

When they reached the infirmary Logan instructed Rogue to sit down on a table and try to relax. He found some bandages and alcohol and began cleaning some of the scratches and cuts.

"Are any of the deep?" Logan asked her gently. She lifted up her right arm, exposing a somewhat deep gash on her shoulder. "It doesn't look like it need stitches." He mumbled.

"You don't have to do this." Rogue said, her voice a little shaky.

"I don't do things because I have to." Logan replied.

"Still…" Rogue just shook her head as Logan wiped off some of the dry blood.

"Why were you fighting yourself?" Logan asked suddenly. He hadn't meant to ask, the words just sort of spilled out.

"Why do you care?" She snapped.

"I don't!" He snapped back. She winced as he pressed down a little harder on one of the scrapes on her arm. "I'm sorry Rogue…"

"No, it's fine. You're helping me, I shouldn't of snapped."

They were silent until Logan was finished bandaging her up.

"How are you gonna explain this?" Logan asked, cocking an eyebrow at her as they walked up to their rooms. Rogue didn't sleep in the staff wing of the mansion because she liked being with her friends, so Logan walked her to her room.

Rogue shrugged. "I won't. If anyone asks, I'll ignore them."

"Fair enough." Logan nodded. He was going to suggest that she touch him, even if only for a second, and absorbs some of his powers, but he knew she would refuse and possibly become angry.

They stopped in front of her door and they both stood there a moment too long, looking around awkwardly.

"Thank you Logan." Rogue whispered.

"Marie…" Logan's voice was low but not quite a whisper.

"Goodnight." Rogue cleared her throat and forced her voice to be strong. Logan nodded, knowing that this was as far as the conversation was going to go.

"Goodnight Marie." He said gently and left her at the door.

When he laid down for sleep he smiled to himself, realizing that for the first time since he had been back, she had allowed him to call her Marie.

**Authors Note: Sorry this took so long! I'm in college and I don't have a lot of time on my hands soooo just expect it to be further between and whatnot. Thank you to all my reviewers! Please enjoy!**


	4. Chapter 4 Cajun Style

**Chapter 4 "Cajun Style"**

"Do you hear anything Logan?" Storm whispered.

"No," Logan grumbled after inhaling deeply. "That's what's botherin me."

The X-Men, which consisted of Scott, Storm, Logan, Rogue, Jubilee, Bobby, and Kitty, were standing in an open field outside of, what appeared, to be an old abandoned warehouse.

"Why do the bad guys always have to use old warehouses to do their work in? Why can't they ever be original?" Jubilee muttered to Kitty and Rogue, who in turn rolled their eyes.

"Shut up!" Rogue snapped. She didn't want to lose her focus.

Rogue hadn't slept a wink the night before. After Logan found her in the Danger Room and helped her clean herself up a little, she'd just sat up and stared out the window all night.

She watching the stars fade to nothing as the sun came up, and going over the events of what had taken place the night before. Why had she let Logan see her that way? Why had she cried in front of him? Why had she allowed him to be so close to her? _Because you still love him_, Marie whispered inside Rogue's head. _You love him and you always have_. Logan asked her why she had been fighting herself, and at first Rogue snapped because she didn't have an answer. Now Rogue knew. She wasn't fighting herself, she was fighting who she once was… and who she once was had won. Marie won…

Rogue shook her head, banishing her thoughts.

This was not the time to think about such things anyway. They were in the middle of a trap and she had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that things were about to get hairy.

"Get ready everybody! Their coming!" Logan shouted.

"How do you know?" Kitty asked, her voice quivering. This was her first mission and she was just a bit nervous.

"Because I'm stuck..." He answered through gritted teeth.

Suddenly the huge metal gate to the warehouse blew off. Through the dust Rogue saw The Brotherhood looming in the dim light. Magneto, always in the middle of his band of goons, had Mystique proudly at his side. Rogue glared at her. Mystique had always rubbed her the wrong way, not just because she was the enemy, but she always looked at Logan the wrong way and she'd always hated her for that.

On the other side of Magneto stood Pyro. He was no longer her old friend John that she and Bobby used to goof around with. He was nasty and hard. Something in his body had changed and he became as ruthless as Magneto, maybe even more so.

Rogue glanced over at Bobby, who was staring hard at Pyro. Bobby had been so hurt with John's leaving. They had been best friends. Their gazes met and when the battle began, Rogue knew it was going to be a battle between the elements. Ice and fire.

Magneto apparently had a few new recruits. There were two other women with him besides Mystique. One was covered in scales, like a snake. She was a green color, a lime green, and when she smiled she revealed long, sharp fangs dripping with fangs and a forked tongue.

The other woman was a tall, slender, tattooed black woman with a mean look on her face. She smelled the air and whispered something to Magneto, who in turn gazed at Rogue, smiling wickedly but saying nothing. Rogue just stared back, her eyes never wavering.

There was also two other men there besides Pyro, but there was no sight of the Cajun thief. One of then men was tall and lanky with sandy blonde hair and an evil smile on his face. Rogue didn't like the look in his eyes. The other was an Asian guy, looked more around Rogue's age then the blonde haired man, with spikes coming out of his entire body, almost making Rogue shutter.

"Well, I see the X-Men have found us!" Magneto said joyfully. "I suppose you want the thief?"

"Where is he, Magneto?" Scott yelled, ready to blast his old ass.

"Right here." Magneto waved his hand and Rogue saw a handsome man wrapped in some sort of mettle restraint come floating through the air. Magneto dropped him harshly from a high height.

"Bastard! When Remy gets out of here…" yelled the Cajun man, writhing and twisting on the ground.

"Oh do shut up." Magneto said tiredly and the let out a pained yelp. Apparently Magneto was squeezing the metal restraint harder around him.

"Stop it!" Kitty screamed. She was the youngest of the group and the sight of Magneto slowly crushing the captured man was too much for her. Magneto stopped, almost amused by her outburst, and loosened the restraints a bit.

"Is that better little girl?" He laughed. Bobby stepped in front of Kitty protectively. Magneto's eyes narrowed.

"Finish them." He said to his Brotherhood, and the fight was on.

The Brotherhood was the first to advance. Rogue unsheathed her knives from the wrist harnesses she wore, her eyes on Mystique. She's the one I want, Rogue thought.

The lanky tattooed woman circled Storm, as if feeling her out.

"You're strong." Said the tattooed woman. Storm didn't speak, just kept her eyes narrowed and attention focused. She began to summon the winds when the woman attacked quickly. Her power was super speed. She was all over the place and Storm just couldn't keep up. The woman had knocked Storm to the ground before she could blink. Storm was angry, summoning the winds, spinning as fast as she could and coming down hard on the woman, catching a punch to the face. The fight was on.

Logan could finally move after Magneto walked away, apparently fleeing the warehouse in case the fight went in favor of the X-Men. Logan angrily advanced on the lanky sandy haired man but found him to be a formidable match.

The man reached up to hit Logan, Logan taking his claws and slicing away at his arm, and only finding the stub growing back into a full arm. Logan rolled his eyes. This is going to be annoying, he thought.

Kitty and Scott were dealing with the spiky Asian and the reptile woman while Rogue and Mystique circled each other.

"So young," Mystique mused. "And yet such tortured features. Everyone was afraid of you, just as they were afraid of me."

"Yeah, but unlike you, I can control my powers now." Rogue spat. Mystique smiled.

"And unlike you, I'm comfortable in my own skin. I can smell it on you. Your self loathing. You've never been good enough…" Mystique gave Logan, who was struggling with the man who could grow his limbs back, a long look and smiled. "You were never good enough for him. He'll never love you."

And that was it.

Rogue lunged toward Mystique letting out a loud yell. Rogue slashed wildly with her knives, Mystique evading her every move. Rogue was so blind with rage that Mystique could easily avoid her wild swings.

You have to calm down Rogue, a voice said inside her head. You have to focus. Rogue stopped for a second, focusing her energy on Mystique. Maybe it was true. Maybe Rogue wasn't and never had been good enough for Logan, but Rogue knew she was sure as hell good enough to kick Mystique's ass.

Rogue attacked strategically next, knocking Mystique's clever feet out from underneath her and pinning her down. Mystique wrapped a leg around Rogue's middle and pulled her over, giving her a hard kick to the chin which sent Rogue sprawling.

Rogue looked around to see her other X-Men doing well in the fight, pushing back the Brotherhood. Logan had cut loose the captured man who had in turn joined the fight. He'd knocked out the girl Storm had been fighting and they went to help Kitty with the reptile woman. In the mean time, Bobby faced off against his once best friend.

Bobby and Pyro circled one another, waiting for the other to make the first strike.

"So, got rid of the untouchable girl, huh Bobby boy?" Pyro said, his voice cruel and empty.

"John, it's not too late. If you give up now I'm sure the professor will be easy on you." Bobby tried. He couldn't help it. He felt like he had to try to reach John, at least one last time. John just laughed.

"I'll never be a slave to that old man again. Not ever!" John advanced, throwing fireballs left and right, which Bobby did his best to avoid. Bobby hit John in the chest with a ball of ice, knocking the wind out of him. The two were at a stand off. Their powers were equal and both knew it was going to be nearly impossible for one to beat the other.

"Pull back! Hurry! Get to the helicopter!" Yelled the Asian man. All of the Brotherhood obeyed this command, but not before Mystique gave Rogue one more good punch.

"Someday, little girl, I'm going to kill Logan slowly in front of you, and then I'll kill you." She said lowly in Rogue's ear. Rogue pushed Mystique off of her, swinging her blade around and barely catching Mystique on the cheek, slicing it open. Mystique screamed, clutching her cheek, and began to run toward the warehouse. Rogue knew that was not the last time that she would see Mystique.

Back in the jet the X-Men nursed their wounds and discussed the small skirmish that had gone down.

"Why did they give up so quickly?" Kitty asked, holding a cold cloth onto her bruised cheek.

"Because," Answered Scott. "Magneto must have bigger plans and didn't want his men hurt."

Rogue sat in the back nursing a busted lip. She felt like she had a few bruised ribs but she didn't say anything. She didn't want to admit that the blue bitch had gotten the best of her. Logan sensed her pain from his seat and thought about asking her if she was alright, but by the looks of her, he thought it might be better not to say anything. Whatever Mystique had said to her made her pretty upset. Logan didn't smell anger on her, only hurt.

"So, what is your name, chere'?" The Cajun thief leaned over to Rogue, giving her a prize winning smile. The first thing Rogue noticed about him was his startling eyes. They were red, blood red. The color of anger, Rogue thought absently.

"Rogue." She said shortly. She didn't ask him what his name was. She didn't care, but he offered the information anyhow.

"Remy is the name." He said, still smiling, in his thick accent.

"That's nice." Rogue said flatly. She wasn't in the mood to be flirted with, which was what he was obviously doing.

"Thank you for taking part in saving my life."

"I'm not the only one."

"No, but you're the prettiest one by far, so Remy thought it was best to thank you first."

"How nice for Remy." Rogue snapped, finally having enough.

"You have spunk to you chere'," Remy pointed out, apparently not catching Rogue's not so subtle hint to leave her be. "I like that."

Rogue smiled coyly, leaned in close to Remy, and whispered "You wanna know what I like?" Remy just cocked an eyebrow. "Being left the hell alone!" Remy simply laughed.

"Remy understands. You are hurt. I shall talk to you when you are feeling better." He leaned back over and sat straight in his seat, still smiling.

Rogue rolled her eyes and was glad that was over. She didn't want to deal with that. She was still sore from Mystique getting the one up on her. Mystique had pushed ever single one of Rogue's buttons and did it well. Rogue wasn't exactly sure _how_ but she did. _He'll never love you_. Those words echoed in her mind over and over and over until Rogue felt like she would explode. He'll never love me, Rogue thought. He'll never love me.

The team met in Charles' office after they had time to recuperate from their mission. They all took showers and changed clothes, some even going down to the infirmary to get a check up from Hank. The most serious injury was Storm's dislocated shoulder.

"Everyone, I would like to introduce you to Remy LeBeau, also known as Gambit." Charles said and Remy nodded his head, smiling toward Rogue.

"Remy'd like ta thank yah all for what yah did for him today." He said.

"We are glad to have you with us Mr. LeBeau." Storm said kindly.

"Please cherie, call me Remy." He said, giving Storm a charming smile, making her blush. Logan rolled his eyes. This guys a charmer, he thought gruffly.

"Well, we hope you will attend the dance that we plan on having." Charles said.

"Only if I can be companied by dat beautiful spunky woman sittin over dere." Remy said, pointing at Rogue. Rogue hadn't been paying attention until she noticed people looking at her.

"What?" She asked.

"Remy new here, so Remy don't know many folks, so will you help me out by going to da dance wit me and introducin me to folks?" Remy asked her politely.

Rogue didn't know what to say. At first she was initially angry that he would even ask in front of everyone, knowing it would be rude for her to turn him down. Then again, when had Rogue ever worried about being rude.

"I don't think so." Rogue said flatly. Logan beamed. That's my girl! Unfortunately for Logan, Rogue saw him smile. That rat bastard, she thought.

"Aw, cmon chere, please don't make Remy beg."

Rogue cocked an eyebrow and looked at Logan. He had a kind of nervous look on his face, like he was afraid she would reconsider.For a second in time, Rogue thought that maybe, just maybe, what Mystique had said had no truth to it at all. Maybe Logan could love me, Rogue thought. Or at least like me. He was jealous, that was plain and simple. It was written all over his face and it made Rogue almost giddy. Let's see how far I can push this, she thought.

"Alright Remy, I'll go with you." Rogue said, then smirked at Logan. His face got red with anger and his jaw set.

"Alright, it's settled then. Now, Scott will show you to your rooms and why don't you all relax this evening. You've earned it." Said the professor, and everyone left to their separate rooms.

Logan caught up with Rogue outside of her room.

"I don't think it's such a good idea you go with this guy. He seems sorta…" Logan started and Rogue cut him off.

"Cheesy? Fake?" She said, almost laughing.

"Well, yeah… if you know that then why're you even thinkin about goin with this fella?" Logan asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Rogue weight this question heavily in her mind, thinking of a proper answer.

"Because you were scared I would go. Because of the way you looked at me... like you were actually looking at me as a woman you care for, not a kid you felt obligated to." And with that, Rogue went inside and shut the door, leaving a very confused Logan standing in the hallway.

**Authors Note: Hey ya'll, thank you all for being so patient with me. School is hectic, I'm failing Economics I hate that class and things are just tough right now. **

**My boyfriend is over seas cries and I'm stressed about that too, but writing this helps me deal with missing him so much. Thank you all for reviewing and giving me a reason to keep writing, and in turn giving me a reason to stay sane. Chapter 5 will be up soon I hope, but I make no promises. Be kewl everyone! -Ali**


	5. Chapter 5 What's Left of Me

**Hey folks. Yeah, I changed the title of my story because I found What's Left Of Me more appropriate and I'm sure you all will agree. ...0... scene change! I finally figured it out! **

**Chapter 5 "What's Left Of Me"**

The night of the dance was fast approaching. Jubilee and Kitty put their hearts and souls into decorating the outside courtyard and garden and picking out the music. As Logan observed those two running around like chickens with their heads cut off it exhausted him. He kept an eye on them because Charles had asked him to as a favor, to make sure Kitty didn't tire herself out and Jubilee accidentally blow something up, which she tended to do from time to time.

Kitty and Jubilee weren't the only two Logan had been keeping an eye on. He and Rogue hadn't spoken since the night after the mission, but he did see her around the mansion with the Cajun thief much more often.

At first, he noticed, Rogue tried to ignore him. She would walk right past him when he would try to speak to her but he persisted. Rogue began to get irritated with this because Logan saw her slam a door on his hand. She must not have slammed it as hard as she could, Logan had observed, because it didn't break his hand.

Logan had watched Rogue in the Danger Room a few more times since what Logan referred to as 'the incident'. He always knew she was strong but had never dreamed she was as strong as she had become, and not only physically.

Rogue exuberated an inner strength that pushed outward, sometimes violently, but always astonishingly. She may had been an angry woman but she was a strong woman, and if provoked, an undoubtedly dangerous woman at that.

…..0…..

"Jubilee! I am _not_ wearing this!" Rogue exclaimed as she eyed herself in the full length mirror that resided in the corner of Kitty, Jubilee, and her room.

"Like hell you aren't!" Jubilee came up behind her and cocked an eyebrow. "And I do believe that this is going to cause a certain someone to absolutely die of jealousy!" Rogue shot her a hard glare.

"I'm not going with Remy to make Logan jealous." She said her tone flat.

"You're such a liar." Kitty yelled from the bathroom.

"Okay, maybe just a little." Rogue admitted with a smirk.

"That's my girl!" Jubilee praised, leaving Rogue to examine herself in the mirror in peace.

The outfit Jubilee and Kitty had picked out for her did fit her well and color did flatter her. She was clad in a tight pair of blue jeans, the knees having gigantic holes on them (Jubilee called it the destroyed look) and the shirt was a beautiful sapphire color that clung to her curves and was awfully low cut.. She even let her friends pick out a nice pair of dangly blue tear drop earrings and matching earrings. Her two best friends had done so much for her and she let them know more than once how thankful she was. Kitty and Jubilee also found her a pair of blue cloves to match, so that she could avoid skin to skin contact with Remy if she so wished, which they knew she would.

Rogue flinched as she put on the cloves. She had had control over her powers for so long and yet she had denied herself simple human contact. Isn't it what she'd always wanted? Yes, it was, she thought sadly. Until Logan left. Touch didn't matter to her anymore because se could not touch the one person she had always wanted to touch. Now that he had returned, could this possibly change, she mused? Finally, after all the wanting, hurt, hate, confusing, and pain, could Logan actually _want_ to touch Rogue the way she'd always wanted?

Rogue shook her head and finished dressing. It didn't matter, she decided. He made his choice when he left you that night. He didn't want you then and he doesn't want you now.

Still, as the trio of beautiful girls (Kitty being dressed in a flattering pale green spaghetti strapped shirt with a flowing darker green peasant skirt, and Jubilee, of course, in a tight pale yellow dress that seemed like a second skin) made their ways outside into the gardens to meet their dates, Rogue couldn't help but wonder if maybe there was still a little hope, even after three years of thinking there was none left? Rogue decided to put her musings away for one night and just let herself have fun with her friends and her interesting date. We'll just see how Logan reacts when he sees me dancing with Remy, she thought, and let herself smile for the first time in a while.

….0….

Logan stayed on the outskirts of the dance, doing his best to keep a distance from the kids doing something he thought looked akin to dancing. Though the members of the X-Men were simply supposed to be chaperones, he saw many of the women of their team on the dance floor letting loose with one another. Kitty, Jubilee, Rogue, and even Storm were all in a small group dancing with one another to a song that made Logan want to rip his ears off.

Though he disliked the choice of music on at the moment, he couldn't lie and say it wasn't pleasant watching Rogue dance the way she was dancing. She moved her body with the rhythm, moving and dipping at the appropriate moments, rooting Logan to his spot and captivating his eyes, finding it damn near impossible to look away.

Logan almost gasped when Rogue found his eyes across the dance floor. She kept dancing, moving her body even more provocatively now that she knew he had noticed her, never taking her eyes from his for one moment. Logan was taken aback by all of the feelings coursing through his veins, feelings he knew were dangerous… the feelings he had run away from three years ago.

Logan thought that he could get away from the memories but he found it impossible. The night before Jean died Mystique had snuck into his tent, posing as Jean, but Logan had seen the scars. Mystique changed herself into different women, but one had made him stop breathing. The vision of Marie hovering above him, looking down at him, wanting him written all over her face. It took all of his strength to push Marie away from him, having to remind himself that it was not indeed Marie but Mystique.

Logan couldn't deny his feelings for Marie after that, but he knew it wouldn't be right for him to openly admit them either. Marie had been through so much, being cast out by her parents, on the road for God knows how long hitch hiking her way across the country into Canada, and being kidnapped by Magneto and forced to absorb his powers and memories. Hell, somewhere inside of Marie a little bit of Logan lingered, and he knew it. No, Logan had decided to leave because he would not be the one to rip away what little innocence she had left. And yet, inadvertently, he had anyway.

Logan was jerked violently out of his thoughts by the sight of a certain Cajun thief coming up behind Rogue, grabbing onto her hips, and swaying with her in time with the music. Rogue's eyes left Logan's for a fleeting moment, long enough to dart over her shoulder to send a sharp look to Remy, and then back to Logan. She didn't attempt to move his hands from her hips and simply kept on dancing, grinding with him until the song came to an end.

Logan couldn't quite explain what came over him in the next two seconds, but as he heard the next song, a slow one, begin to play his feet started moving and he couldn't stop them, not even sure if he wanted to.

"Can yah spare her for a dance?" Logan asked the Cajun gruffly. Logan knew the guy wouldn't dare tell him no. Remy bowed gracefully and walked off to the side of the dance floor, apparently put out. Logan gave Rogue one of his lopsided grins.

"Wanna dance?" He asked her. She cocked an eyebrow.

"You dance?" Rogue asked, stepping toward him, putting her arms carefully around his neck, him slowly putting his arms on her hips.

"Not really," He muttered. "I just figured I'd give it a try." Rogue nodded and he would swear he heard her giggle a bit.

Normally Logan would had detested the pop slow song that had filled the room, but the lyrics caught him off guard. They hung inside his mind, just knowing, somehow, he had picked the perfect song for them to dance to.

"What's this song called?" He asked.

"It's called 'What's Left of Me', By Nick Lachey. Why?"

"It reminds me of you." He said lowly. She didn't say anything, just turned her gaze to his. Her eyes are so beautiful, he thought. He'd almost forgotten the warm brown color and how easily he could get lost within their depths.

Logan wrapped his arms fully around her, pulling her closer to him. He enhaled her perfume.

"You smell like roses." His voice was low and husky, only loud enough for her to barely hear him. She smiled. "You should do that more often." He said.

"Do what?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Smile," He said, bending down to her ear. "You're beautiful all the time, but you glow when you smile." He felt her shiver and allowed himself a smile of satisfaction.

"You mean that, don't you…" Rogue looked into his eyes with a questioning look. Almost like she'd heard something she'd been waiting for but she wasn't sure if it was real.

"You know I do. I can't lie to you. I never could." Logan gulped, and quoted a line in the song that they were dancing to. "You give me a reason for standing still Marie."

The moment they were in seemed to last the lifetime of a star. Logan was afraid that any second they were both going to explode, sending a dangerously amount of energy throughout the universe.

Logan saw her lips part as what they heard sank in to both of their minds. _Take what's left of this man. Make me whole once again._ Would she allow him to do that? Could she allow him to fill the void he had created all those years ago?

Logan felt himself lower his head, his eyes on her lips. He knew they were in the middle of a very crowded dance floor and that many young eyes were on them, including her dates. He watched her closely, making sure she was not going to pull away, but he could see in her eyes that she had no intention of ending this moment. They were so close to hers now that he could feel her ragged breath on his lips.

A millisecond before their lips would have collided, the song ended, and a fast song came on, and the moment was smashed. Logan pulled back just a tad, searching Rogue's face, and felt his stomach drop straight to the floor when he saw the pure and unadulterated fear that was on it. He could see the tears welling up in her eyes, making them shimmer in the dim light. She pulled away quickly and bolted off of the dance floor, blowing by Remy and not stopping when her two best friends called her name.

It only took a split second for Logan to decide whether or not to go after her. He'd sent her running away in tears once and didn't go after her, and that hadn't exactly resulted in anything good, and he knew he never wanted to hurt her like that again so off he ran. He knew she may lash out at him, but he didn't care. He wasn't gonna let himself lose her again.

**Authors Note: Hey ya'll! Sorry that it took soooo long for this one, but I actually sat down tonight and made myself get this done so I'm sorry if there are any errors. I changed the title of this story because I felt like this fit it much better. Let me know what ya'll think. THANK YOU ALL for the lovely reviews I've recieved. You guys make me feel so special! Love ya'll! Keep reviewing for me! And thank you so much for your patience.I heard from my boyfriend today so I'm happy lol:-) Have a good evening everyone! HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! Pray for all of the soldiers that are over seas right now! ----Ali**


	6. Chapter 6 Barging In

**Chapter 6 "Barging In"**

"I am so STUPID!" Rogue roared at the top of her lungs. She had bolted into the mansion as soon as she ripped herself away from Logan and out of the trance she had been trapped in. She was glad that all of the students were at the dance because she surely would have drawn attention to herself by yelling in the hallway so loudly.

She couldn't understand what the hell had gotten into her! She was angry with herself because she knew better then to let her guard down and let loose. Rogue lost her composure and demeanor for just a night and she almost _kissed_ Logan! That's probably just what he wanted too, she thought spitefully. That arrogant bastard!

She walked quickly through the school until she reached her room. She flung the door open, still seething, and even more confusing was… she wasn't quite sure _why_ she was so angry.

Logan had tried to kiss her. Isn't that what she'd always wanted? Hadn't she dreamt of that moment every night since the day that she hid in his trailer? Yes, it was what Rogue had always wanted, but it just seemed too simple. It seemed too… easy. And one thing that Rogue had learned throughout her life was that life was never simple or easy. What if she kissed him and then he left her again?

Rogue stopped the pacing she had been doing as a realization rained down on her like a million shooting stars. She was _afraid_. Rogue, the angry uncontrollable woman she had become, was afraid. That was the source of all of her anguish. She was scared that he would come back into her life only to leave her again. She thought all this time that if she stayed numb to everyone around her that no one would ever get under her skin the way that the Wolverine had been. The way that he _was_.

Rogue shook her head. She was so angry right at that moment that she wanted to put her fist through the wall! She grabbed her knives off of her dresser and headed out the door. It was time to hit the Danger Room.

……..0…….

Logan looked all around the grounds searching for Rogue. He sniffed around the woods for a few minutes until he realized she hadn't been out there. He almost gave up until he caught her scent at one of the side entrances into the mansion. The last place he'd thought to look for her was inside.

Logan didn't know what to think at the moment. He'd almost kissed her. God, he'd gotten so close. He could smell the fear on her when she'd realized what was going on and Logan thanked God that she could, in turn, not smell the fear on him as well.

Every night since the incident with Mystique Logan's dreams had been plagued with Marie's face. Desire had coursed through his entire body as Mystique changed her form to Marie's and Logan had never felt so guilty. How could he, the Wolverine, the man with nearly no past except for what William Stryker had divulged to him, be with Marie? Compared to him she was innocent and untainted. He wouldn't allow himself to tear what little childhood she had left away from her. He wouldn't be the man to do that.

It didn't take him very long to figure out that he'd fallen in love with Marie. That was why he had to leave her. He'd promised her that he would take care of her and he would, even if that meant hurting her in the worst possible way.

It took him years on the road to realize that what he had done wasn't fair. Logan had never told Marie how he felt because he was afraid to hurt her or taint her in someway and he came to understand that he'd never given her a choice in the matter. He'd taken away her ability to choose in the matter and that wasn't fair by far.

Logan caught her scent lingering down the hallway, interrupting his thoughts. He checked in her room but she wasn't there. He followed her scent down into the lower levels. It didn't take long for him to figure out where she had gone.

When Logan reached the Danger Room he found Rogue was fighting fiercely with the simulations. Logan took note that this time, though, she was battling simulations with no faces. Just robots. Rogue was no longer at war with herself. Now she didn't know who she wanted to be angry with.

After a few moments of hesitation Logan opened the door to the room and stepped inside, ending the simulation.

"Why did you do that?" Rogue exclaimed. Her once straight hair was a mass of tangles, wild about her face, and the shirt she'd been wearing was torn in the front. She's beautiful even when she's not trying to be, Logan thought.

"I couldn't let you run away like that." Logan said, trying to gain a fragment of composure.

"You can't just barge in here!" Rogue yelled.

"Barge in where? Here? This room?" Logan asked softly, taking a small step toward the still panting Rogue. "Or your life?"

Before she could stop herself Rogue felt herself begin to move backward but he kept on coming. She didn't know what to say. She didn't know what to think. She just wanted to get away. He kept walking toward her until he'd backed her up against the wall, and that was his first mistake. Never corner a wounded animal.

Rage burst loose in the pit of Rogue's stomach. Logan's eyes went wide and he began to back up but he was too late. Before he could blink Rogue threw a hard right, hitting him square in the nose. He growled as the blood began to gush from his nostrils. He knew his nose was broken. He stood back for a few seconds and let his mutation kick in and heal himself.

Rogue was taken a back a bit by the look in Logan's eyes. She'd pushed him a little too far, she knew, because she knew that look. The Wolverine was rearing his ugly head and Rogue knew things were about to get hairy.

Logan pushed Rogue hard against the wall. Rogue bit back a scream as her shoulder collided hard against the metal wall.

"Now, listen here…"

Logan suddenly stopped and pulled away from Rogue. She felt it too. The air seemed to of lifted and she knew it was Charles communicating with them.

"Get to the jet." Rogue heard Charles' voice in her head and she knew Logan heard him also. She looked at Logan, who was looking at the floor, looking almost ashamed.

"Did I hurt you?" He asked, his voice small. Rogue shook her head, obviously lying.

"We'll discuss this later. We need to go." Rogue said, ending the conversation before it could really get started. Logan nodded, knowing that she was right, and they headed toward the X-Jet together.

**Authors Note: I swear I tried to make this one longer! I'm sooo sorry I haven't updated lately. I've had major writers block. I wanted this one to be longer but it just felt like a good place to stop. So the next chapter may be a lil while till it gets up but I promise it will be a whole lot better then this one! Thank you to all who have been reviewing. You're all sweethearts!**


	7. Chapter 7 Poison Touch

**Chapter 7 "Poison Touch"**

"What's goin' on?" Logan half growled as he and Rogue climbed aboard the jet after gearing up.

"Charles found some activity back at the warehouse where we last saw Magneto." Scott answered from the cockpit. Logan raised an eyebrow.

"That's stupid for him to go back there." He said, thinking out loud. That made no sense unless…

"It's a trap." Rogue said flatly, finishing Logan's thoughts. Logan nodded and so did the rest of the team.

"Should we check it out anyway?" Kitty asked meekly. Logan saw Popsicle Boy putting a protective arm around her shoulder, whispering something into her ear.

"Yes, Charles has instructed us to be on our guard but to take a look around that warehouse just to be on the safe side." Storm said softly, trying to ease Kitty's mind. Logan thought the Kitty kid was too soft and sweet for this kind of shit. She wasn't ready to be on the team, he thought gruffly.

The Cajun was sitting in the front row looking rather irritated. Logan smirked. He doubted that Gambit would be going near Rogue anytime soon. Jubilee had taken the seat next to him and was flirting with him like crazy anyway. He'd bounce back, Logan decided, rolling his eyes.

Rogue sat; visibly tense, in the last row of seats in the very far corner of the jet. No one had said a word to she or Logan about what had obviously transpired between the two at the dance. Not even Kitty or Jubilee. Logan sat in the row diagonal to her, giving her a few fleeting glances, not wanting to meet her eyes.

Rogue stared out the window of the jet, thankful for the opportunity to be lost in thought. Her mind absently wandered to the time when she'd been sucked out of the jet and had suspended in mid-air until Kurt rescued her. She wondered how he was doing. He hadn't stayed on at the mansion because he chose the path of becoming a Catholic priest, must to Storm's disappointment. Everyone could see Storm had taken a bit of a liking to the German speaking transporter, but she'd recovered and now seemed to fancy the robust blue intellectual doctor that was Dr. Hank McCoy, also known as Beast.

Rogue looked over to Logan, who was staring out the window closest to him. She wondered what he was thinking. Did he regret almost kissing her? Was that what he was going to say to her down in the Danger Room? Or, possibly, had he come down there to tell her he cared?

At that moment Logan felt Rogue's eyes on the side of his face and he turned to meet her gaze. Both being stubborn neither turned away. Logan saw the conflicting emotions in her eyes and she saw the weariness in his. All at once Rogue knew in her heart that Logan cared for her. Now alls she had to decide was whether she could allow herself to open back up to the man she had loved for years and who had broken her heart. Could she let herself love him again? Had she ever stopped?

…….0…….

Inside the warehouse the only thing the team found was lots of old machinery and broken glass. The place looked like there had been no activity taking place within it for years. Everything was covered in what seemed like layer upon layer of dirt and grime and everything looked virtually untouched.

Rogue felt an uneasiness creep over her as the team crept deeper and deeper into the darkness and dust. It's too still, Rogue thought. Something isn't right. This isn't right.

A split second later lights throughout the entire building came on, momentarily stunning the group. Rogue whipped out her knives with a quick flick of her wrists and got into her fighting stance. She listened carefully but could only hear a faint clicking sound that was the lights switching on.

"Logan, is it Magneto?" Scott yelled.

"I don't feel him." Logan shouted back.

Rogue felt the ground beneath her begin to shake. She glanced around and she saw the rest of the team rush toward the door only to see metal bars coming down, blocking any chance of escape. Rogue heard laughter coming from the rafters of the building. The laughter echoed throughout the place as bars came down over the windows. Rogue knew that laughter anywhere. Mystique, she thought.

"Come on out you cowardice blue bitch!" Rogue yelled. The laughter continued until she saw ropes being thrown down from the rafters and members of The Brotherhood sliding down from their perches.

"Way to make an entrance." Scott muttered.

"What do you want Mystique?" Storm asked. Everyone was in stance, reading to pounce on the gang of evil mutants. Mystique smirked as the rest of the Brotherhood gathered at her side, looking like a black plague ready to descend on the X-Men.

"We've come for your heads." Mystique leered, and then turned to her five companions, one among them being a very angry looking Pyro. "Kill them. No mercy!" She screamed and then lunged forward. The battle had begun.

Immediately Pyro unleashed balls of fire upon the team. Rogue felt like hell was raining down on top of her as she tried to find cover. Bobby quickly covered them with a thin sheet of ice giving them enough time to duck and cover before the fire melted it.

Scott began to blast The Brotherhood with his beams, distracting Pyro long enough to give Bobby a chance to get close enough to him to hit him square in the chest with the biggest ball of ice Rogue had ever seen. Rogue knew that Pyro would not be getting back up after that blow.

"Callisto!" Mystique called for the black tattooed woman. The woman apparently called Callisto, smiled and knew exactly what to do.

Callisto had the power of super speed and she used this to her advantage. She ran around the team in circles, so fast that Rogue could only see her as a blur. Everyone was ready to see who she would attack, but at her rate, she could attack all of them before any of the could blink.

Before Rogue could blink The Brotherhood advanced and she found herself face to face with the woman that had the appearance akin to a snake. Rogue wasn't sure why Mystique hadn't come for her but Rogue was more than prepared to fight this serpent.

The snake woman circled Rogue slowly, flicking her forked tongue out at her, laughing slightly.

"Who are you?" Rogue asked. The snake woman smiled.

"I do not see what my name will matter to you girl," the woman said. Her accent was thick and Rogue noted that it sounded southern European. "I'm going to strip your skin from your bones."

Rogue narrowed her eyes and readied herself. Suddenly Rogue felt a presence from behind and strong arms going around her.

"ROGUE!" She heard Logan scream her name but she didn't understand. She turned her head slightly and saw Mystique smirking from behind her. She then saw the snake woman advance on her, her long fangs dripping with deadly venom and anticipation.

Rogue looked around frantically as she struggled with Mystique. Mystique was extremely limber and had herself wrapped around Rogue with a death grip.

Rogue saw all of her team mates busy fighting, none able to come to her aid. Rogue felt the snake woman's fangs press against her skin. I will not die like this, Rogue thought, rage breaking in the pit of her stomach. She lifted her leg and kicked Mystique as hard as she could in the knee. She heard Mystique let out a screech and momentarily release Rogue, but it was too late. Rogue felt the fangs pierce her throat and the burn of the venom being inserted into her bloodstream. Rogue decided that if she was going to die, so was the snake. Rogue plunged both of her knives into the belly of the woman and twisted, the woman letting out a horrid scream and pulling away.

"Serpentania!" Mystique shouted and jumped up to her feet, pushing Rogue to the ground. Rogue hit the ground, clutching her throat. She could feel the venom's effects and knew that she didn't have long.

"She's dead! Come on!" Rogue heard one of The Brotherhood shout. I killed her, Rogue thought. Good.

Moments later Rogue was surrounded by the X-Men. Logan was standing over her, looking down at her, tears in his eyes.

"What can we do?" Kitty asked meekly, she and Jubilee standing helplessly over their best friend's body.

"I don't know…" Scott shook his head.

"Logan, can you help her?" Storm asked frantically. Rogue noticed Storm's face was smeared with blood. Who's, she didn't know.

"How can de wolf man help the Rogue girl?" Remy asked genuinely confused.

"Logan has regenerative capabilities. He can heal rapidly. Rogue's gift is that if someone touches her skin she absorbs their life force, and in the case of mutants, borrows their gifts. She's learned to control it, but she can still use her power whenever she wants." Bobby explained, looking down upon Rogue, a panicked expression on his face.

Rogue felt like all of the muscles in her body had caught on fire. She wanted to scream but she couldn't breathe well enough. She felt her lungs begin to falter. Her heart was fluttering.

"No!" Rogue chocked out. "I...wont… cant…hurt…him…"

"Rogue, please!" Logan shouted. He pulled off his gloves and laid both hands on her face. "Please Rogue… please baby let me help you."

"I… don't…want…to…hurt…you…again." Rogue coughed and felt herself start to convulse.

"Then let me help you! God, Rogue, please… I love you Rogue please!" Logan pulled her into her arms, laying his cheek on her forehead, holding her as she shook violently. And then suddenly all was still.

"No…"Jubilee gasped and began to sob heavily. Kitty buried her face in Bobby's shoulder.

"Why…" Logan began, but suddenly felt the pull of Rogue's powers. He felt his powers being pulled from his body along with some of his life-force. He just prayed that it worked before he felt himself sink into darkness.

**Authors Note: Omg, okay I have two apologies to make. I am SOO SORRY that this took so long to get out. I just took my final today and sat down and made myself finish this chapter. I will have a little down time until the 28th so I will try to get as much of this story done as possible, if not completely finish it. Because after that I will be taking 5 classes and it will be extremely hard for me to find time to do any kind of writing, but I will anyway, even though updates may be so few and far between. Next apology is THIS CHAPTER SUCKS, or at least I think so. Its horrible writing but I ran out of ideas on the battle scene and was in a rush to get this out, so I am sooo sorry and please don't flame me for this chapter. I did my best with the circumstances I was under. SO next update will be much sooner I hope. Again, I am so sorry! **


	8. Chapter 8 Words

**Chapter 8 "Words"**

The darkness around Rogue was so thick she felt like she could swim through it. Am I dead, she wondered? Is this what death is like? Just swimming through the blackness?

Suddenly Rogue was thrust forward. At first she felt like she was being pulled off the ground by some unseen force, as if pulling her toward the heavens. And then with a sudden motion she knew she wasn't flying upward but falling downward into a tiny pin-hole of light that grew larger and larger until she hit it with such a force she thought every bone in her body would snap into pieces.

Rogue sat straight up in the hospital bed, her eyes flying open, a slight yelp escaping her lips. The bright lights from the lab blinded her momentarily and she shielded her face with her arm. She felt a strong pair of hands on her shoulders and gently push her back.

"Rest Rogue." She heard a male voice that she knew was Hank McCoy.

"Logan…" Rogue managed to choke out. She was exhausted. She felt like she hadn't slept in weeks even though she knew she had been unconscious.

"He's fine Rogue, but you need to rest dear." Hank said gently. Rogue could make out his gentle yet beastly blue face though her vision was very blurry blurry. "Just rest dear. Just rest…" Rogue could hear his voice faintly as she drifted off into a comfortable sleep.

……..0…….

Logan paced the hallway outside of the lab. After he was released by Dr. McCoy he initially refused to leave Rogue's side. He only left because Dr. McCoy said he would work better without Logan hovering over him all of the time, so Logan spent his time pacing the hallway outside the door, barely taking the time to eat.

Logan couldn't get the look on Rogue's dieing face out of his head. She'd looked at him with that same usual glare. Logan wondered if the reason she would had rather died on that warehouse floor was really because she didn't want to hurt him or because she would rather die then accept help from him. Did she really hate him? Logan decided that when she was able he would try one more time to talk to her about his feelings for her, and if she truly didn't want anything to do with him, not even as friends, he would leave her alone. It would be one of the hardest things he'd ever have to do but he would let her go if it was truly what he wanted.

"Logan?" Logan whipped around as he heard Hank's voice.

"Is she awake? Is she alright?" He asked quickly, trying to push past the big hairy blue man standing in front of the door.

"Logan, calm down," Hank said coolly, pushing Logan away from the door a little. "She did wake up for a few moments but then went back to sleep. She's out of the woods now though and that's the good thing. She'll wake up soon and probably be as good as new." He said cheerfully.

Logan sighed heavily and ran his hands through his hair. He'd been so afraid that he'd been too late in helping her. When he'd awoken first it had terrified him. He'd thought surely she would recover first.

"Can I see her?" Logan asked. Hank gave him a questioning look. "Please…" Logan said softly, looking at his feet. "I have to see her Hank…" Hank sighed and moved away from the door, allowing the Wolverine to enter.

"Don't disturb her. She needs her rest." Hank advised sternly and Logan nodded.

"Thank you," Logan nodded and stepped quietly into the room.

The beeping from Rogue's heart monitor filled with sterile smelling room. He could hear her slow shallow breathing from where he stood at the door and he knew that she was still sleeping. Logan sat quietly down in the chair next to her, taking her hand.

Logan had woken up a day after the mission at the warehouse and had been frantic when he found Rogue still unconscious. Hank couldn't find any medical reason for why Rogue hadn't awoken because she had no trace of Serpentania's venom in her system. The only explanation Hank could come up with was that Rogue was just tired. She carried around so much anxiety and anger that it had weighed down her body and driven her to near exhaustion. Hank thought that perhaps her mind was using this period of unconsciousness as a way for Rogue to work through her inner issues with herself.

"I'm not sure if you can hear me…" Logan whispered, running his free hand through his usually unruly hair. He sighed. "I'm not good at this, but I'm gonna try. Rouge… Marie, I love you. I left you _because_ I loved you. I couldn't stay then because I thought that I wasn't good enough to be with you or that I'd ruin you somehow. I was probably right. I'm probably not good enough for you." Logan paused and took a deep shaky breath. He looked at her calm, serene face, and had to fight back the tears that were threatening to fall.

"But I was wrong Marie. I was so wrong. I'm not the one who gets to decide what is good or bad for you. That should had been your choice and I took that away from you, and for that I am so sorry. It took all the time that I was gone for me to realize that and I can only hope that I'm not too late."

Logan was so caught up in his musings that he hadn't noticed the change in Rogue's breathing nor the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"If you want, if it is really what will make you happy, I'll leave you alone. Forever. For good. You'll never hear from me again. I'll leave and…"

"No," Rogue barely choked out the word. Logan's eyes flew open and he stood up quickly.

"Rogue! You're awake!" Logan realized how stupid he sounded but he couldn't help it. He was beside himself with happiness just to see those beautiful doe eyes looking up at him.

"You… can't… ever… leave… me… again…" Rogue managed to get out. Logan rushed to get her a class of water which she gulped down greedily.

"I'm gonna go get Hank."

…..0….

Rogue's head cleared just a little after Logan ran for the door. She realized that she was in the medical wing and that her whole body felt like lead. She tried to sit up but the pain in her head made her think that wasn't the best idea. Her mouth was so dry that she felt like that she hadn't had a drink in months.

"Ah, so glad to see you awake my dear!" Hank boomed as he and Logan swung open the doors and made their way into the room. Rogue winced from the sound of Hank's huge voice. "We were beginning to wonder if we'd lost you there." He added, taking her wrist gently and checking her pulse.

Hank informed Rogue that she'd been unconscious for almost a week. He also told her about what they knew about Magneto and the attack at the Warehouse.

"What we know is basically, well…nothing. Magneto or his bunch hasn't so much as made a peep since the night you all were attacked." Hank said. Rogue found this odd.

"They'll try something else," Rogue muttered. "They want Gambit."

"That's what Storm and One-eye said," Logan grumbled from the corner. "The team decided that when you woke up and had a little time off to recuperate that we were gonna use the Cajun as bait."

"Sounds risky," Rogue grinned. She looked down at her arms and, despite Hank's yelps of protest, removed her I.V and all the other wires she couldn't name that she was hooked up to. "I like this idea." Logan smirked.

"I thought you might."

…….0……

Rogue was greeted warmly by the rest of the team and students when Hank issued her a clean bill of health and let her out of the medical wing.

"Oh girl!" screamed Jubilee as she tackled Rogue on sight as soon as she entered their room. "We were so scared!" By this time Kitty had joined in the group hug. Rogue laughed.

"I'm fine ya'll!" Rogue giggled and fiercely hugged her two best friends back. "Everything been running smoothly?" she asked.

"Oh yeah, definitely! Kitty here took over your archery class and I supervised. You know make sure nobody got their poor little mutant eyeballs poked out." Jubilee said with a smirk.

Rogue spent an hour and a half with Kitty and Jubilee, letting them regale her with the latest gossip that they knew she really didn't give a crap about, but knew she'd listen to anyway.

To be honest, Rogue's mind was very preoccupied. She felt a little guilty; she really should be paying attention to Kitty and Jube's. But she couldn't. For the first time in a very long time, Rogue felt…Rogue felt _okay_. She wasn't angry. She just was, and that was something she hadn't been in a while.

While she was unconscious she remembered having a dream. At first the dream was more of a nightmare. She was surrounded by voices screaming angry words, and it took her a while to realize that the voice belonged to her. All of the anger that had built it's way up inside her… and exploded. In her dream the bright light had almost blinded her, but it was all gone. There was nothing left but a white room with her standing in the middle of it.

And then there was another. Logan was in the room with her. He just stood there, whispering to her, then the words were louder and louder and louder until Rogue realized that she wasn't dreaming anymore. She was listening to the words that Logan was saying to her. He loved her. He really loved her and was willing to walk away from her if that's what she wanted.

"I'll catch ya'll later. I think I'm gonna go for a little walk. I need to clear my head." Rogue said to her friends, giving them an apologetic look, but they only shook their heads and told her to go. They understood. Rogue knew that they would. She needed time to figure out what the hell she was going to say to Logan. There was so much to say and Rogue was so without words.

"Hey chick?" Jubilee called to her before she exited the room.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"Just tell him you love him. Just be happy." Jubilee grinned and Kitty smiled her usual bright smile. Rogue smiled. Actually _smiled_.

"You know, I think that's the best idea you've ever had." Rogue said to Jubilee, and then exited the room to go find her words.

………0……..

Logan found Rogue leaning against the balcony over looking the garden. Her hair was free, not in the restricting pony-tail she usually dawned. Her eyes were closed and her head was tilted back, letting the strong breeze brush against her face and let her hair fly wild. She looked so calm and serene, Logan felt almost guilty for intruding upon her space. It was just then that she opened her eyes and looked at him.

The look she gave him wasn't the usual angry glare. Her features were softer and the look in her eyes was calm and gentle. If Logan were one of those sensitive men, he might have cried at that moment. But instead, he cleared his throat and did his best to smile.

"Lookin' like you're feelin' good." Logan mumbled, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Rogue didn't answer right away. Instead she looked back at the garden. Logan walked and stood beside her, resting his body weight on his elbows leaning against the railing. He heard Rogue give a heavy sigh.

"I never hated you, you know." She finally said. Logan chuckled.

"Coulda fooled me." And at this, Rogue laughed.

"It feels good to hear you laugh again Rogue." Logan smiled over at her. Rogue looked over at him and flashed just the hint of a smile.

"The name's Marie."

And at that moment, Marie knew that was all that needed to be said right then. There was no need in pushing the issues between them. They were headed in the right direction and she didn't want to move to fast by pushing too hard, and she knew neither did he. So they stood there, chit chatting about anything that would come to their minds, both secretly smiling inside and being so glad to have their best friend back. And both secretly knowing that they were so much more than friends. So much more than words. And that was fine for the moment.

**Authors Note: OMG CAN YOU EFFING BELIEVE I FINISHED THIS CHAPTER???? Yeah okay, I AM SOOOO SORRY! My life is nuts. I broke up w/ that asshole and it sorta spun my life outta control. School is nuts and I honestly had a huge ass case of writers block, but I think things will progress okay from here. The updates will still be spaced out pretty far, but I think I can develop the story a little more. This story isn't going to be very long, probably a few more chapters and I'm gonna call it a day, but we'll see. Again, I'm so sorry for the delay and thank all my reviewers and the people who are stickin with me!!!!!!!**


	9. Chapter 9 Operation Rogue and Logan

**Chapter 9 "Operation Rogue and Logan"**

Something was different about Rogue. Everyone could sense it. When she walked into the room she no longer emitted this raging aura that had been her shadow for the past three some odd years. No, something was definitely different about Rogue. And that was because the Rogue was gone. Marie was back.

No one really knew what happened to Rogue inside of her own head while she was unconscious, but everyone in the mansion was thanking whatever deity presided above them for her change. The change wasn't radical; she was still innately grumpy and could still be found releasing tension down in the Danger Room, but she laughed and smiled much more often. No, the only outright radical change that took place was the change that took place between the Wolverine and the Rogue.

Rogue and Logan were slowly getting to know one another again. Rogue found that Logan had stayed fairly the same but Logan quickly found that much had changed about her. She was no longer the impressionable, impulsive, irrational kid he'd picked up on the side of the road. She was far more calculating and logical, even more so than he. She hardly ever gave in to temptation and was not easy to influence. She was extremely strong willed and stubborn.

Logan didn't try to hurry things along. He was afraid of pushing too hard and in turn pushing her away. There was no doubt in his mind that he loved her and wanted to see what they could make of a relationship, but Logan wanted to give her plenty of time to make up her mind about him. And though they were both content with their slow paced evolution, some members of the X-Men were eager for something more to transpire between the pair.

………0………

"When are you gonna' get with that chica?" Asked Jubilee, cornering Rogue in their room. "You two are going no where fast and it's time you did something about it!"

"I hate to say it, but she's right." Kitty said, sitting on her bed flipping through a magazine.

"Oh shut up," Rogue snapped, plopping down on her own bed.

"Has he even made a move?" Jubilee asked, and then ducked to avoid the pillow that Rogue threw at her.

"No," Rogue said. "And that's perfectly fine with me!"

It had been almost a month since Rogue was released from the hospital wing and she and Logan had fallen into a comfortable friendship. She hadn't really noticed that they never had much physical contact…until her two best friends so nicely pointed it out.

"Does he ever even _hug_ you?" Kitty asked, flipping another page of her magazine.

"Of course he does!"

"Name one time when he's hugged you since you got out of the hospital." Jubilee challenged. Rogue glared at her.

"Knew it," Kitty muttered.

"We have got to help Wolvie out with this one," Jubilee said to herself as she began to pace back and forth, the gears in her mind starting to turn.

Rogue just rolled her eyes and left the room. She wouldn't have left if she knew that her absence from the room left Jubilee and Kitty freedom to come up with the perfect scheme to get her and Logan together at last.

"We're gonna need a little help with this," Kitty mused out loud and Jubilee smiled.

"Let's go find Storm and Scott!" Jubilee said and the two rushed from the room.

…….0…….

"I don't think it would be a wise idea to corner those two," Storm said wisely as Jubilee suggested locking Logan and Rogue in a broom closet somewhere.

"She makes a point," Scott murmured. "Logan would just rip the damn door down anyway."

"Well then what are we gonna do?" Jubilee huffed, crossing her arms across her chest.

"I'm not sure we should _do_ anything. Maybe it would be best to leave them up to their own devises." Storm suggested.

"Ole' Wolvie is never going to make a move and you know Rogue won't budge. I'm not suggesting anything drastic; just a little shove in the right direction." Jubilee said innocently.

"Shoving them into a broom closet is your idea of a _little_ shove?" Scott asked.

"Alright, so Jubilee isn't the most subtle person on the planet," Kitty always felt like she had to come to Jubilee's rescue. "But her heart is in the right place. These two are the most stubborn people in the world and without our help they may _never_ get together!"

"Kitty's right," sighed Scott. "But the question is, what do we do about it?"

"I think the only room we could get them into without one of them getting suspicious is the freakin' Danger Room!" Jubilee grumbled and dramatically flung herself down on the couch that was in Scott's office.

"You're a genius Jubes!" Kitty beamed.

"That may just work but we may have to bring Charles into it," Scott mused and rubbed his chin, the wheels in his head already turning.

"We could trap them in a simulation!" Storm exclaimed! The group gathered around Scott's desk, eagerly chatting away about what kind of simulation would be appropriate to give the Wolverine a little nudge. When they had their game plan all mapped out the group raced down to the Danger Room to begin phase one of Operation Rogue and Logan.

………0………

"Logan, please go down to the Danger Room and keep an eye on a few of the younger students that are down there training. I'm afraid Storm had to leave the class early due to a rather nasty blow to the head." Logan heard Xavier's voice and it almost made him jump.

"I hate it when you do that," Logan grumbled, hearing Xavier chuckle a bit.

Logan made his way to the Danger Room as slowly as possible. He was not looking forward to babysitting a bunch of brats trying not to get blown to pieces by droids on the war path. He stopped by one of the staff rooms in hopes of finding alcohol, but to his disappointment was stuck with a luke-warm soda. Where was Ice Man when he needed him?

He walked extremely slowly down to the lower levels, polishing off the last bit of his soda before entering the Danger Room. He grunted agitatedly when he found it empty, save one person.

"Where's the rug rats?" Logan grumbled. At the sound of his voice, Rogue spun quickly on her heels.

"I have no idea." She said, her annoyance apparent. "Charles told me to come down here to watch them because Storm hit her head or something."

"Yeah," Logan nodded. "He gave me the same story, but I don't see no kids here." Logan sniffed the air, catching a few lingering scents coming from the observation deck.

"The kids up there?" Rogue asked Logan, noticing him glaring in the deck's direction.

"No," Logan growled slowly. He sniffed the air a few times. "It's One-Eye, Storm, and your two idiot friends."

"What are they doin' up there?" Rogue whirled around to glare up at the deck along with Logan. "I thought Storm was hurt!"

"Let's get out of…" Logan was cut off by the sight of the Danger Room door sliding shut.

"SCOTT!" Logan's voice boomed.

"JUBILEE! KITTY!" Rogue followed suit. They both knew yelling at them wouldn't do them any good. They were stuck in that room until they finished whatever insane simulation those four insane morons had programmed for them.

Meanwhile, the four insane morons were on the observation deck having themselves a lovely laugh.

"They're possibly going to kill us when they get out of there," Kitty managed to choke out amongst the giggles.

"Or they'll thank us!" Jubilee interjected.

"Yes, well, let's get this show on the road and leave these two alone, shall we?" Storm said, pressing a button to begin the simulation. Jubilee was thoroughly disappointed about this.

"Aw darn! I wanted to watch!" She pouted. Scott shook his head.

"No way, then Logan would _really_ kill us."

"Scott's right, they deserve their privacy." Storm said sternly. Jubilee and Kitty nodded and the four left the room. Jubilee and Kitty scampered off to go tell Peter and Bobby about their little scheme.

"I hope this works." Storm said worriedly after the two giggling younger women were out of earshot.

"It will," Scott said confidently. "As much as I hate to acknowledge it, Logan's a good man with a good heart. And Rogue's an intelligent woman. They just, as Jubilee put it, needed a little shove in the right direction."

"Why Scott, if I didn't know better I'd say you almost _like_ Logan now." Storm teased. Scott glared down at Storm. It would be a cold day in hell before he'd admit to _anyone_ that he actually didn't mind having the Wolverine around. But Storm didn't miss the slight smile on his lips.

He's healing, she thought. He's finally coming back to us.

………0………

"I'm going to kill them!" Rogue exclaimed.

"Get in line!" Logan snarled.

Logan and Rogue both tensed up as the lights in the room grew very dim and the scene around them began to change. The simulation had begun.

**Authors Note: Thank you for your patience with me. I think that I've nuked this story-line almost as much as possible, so the end should be coming soon and then I will be starting a new fic. Not sure yet it if will be a Harry Potter or an X-Men, seeing as I have promising ideas for both. I'm going through a rough time right now, so I think the more I concentrate on fanfictions the better off I'll be, as sad as that sounds lol. Thank you to all the reviewers, I appreciate it very much! Keep reading and see how this turns out!**


	10. Chapter 10 Delicate Touches

**Chapter 10 "Delicate Touches"**

Rogue braced herself, not knowing what kind of villain she was about to face. I don't have my knives, she thought, feeling her body tense up from panic. That's okay, she tried to soothe herself, you don't need them. You're trained for hand to hand combat, you'll be fine. She heard Logan release his claws as the scene around them began to change. She got into her battle stance.

Rogue nearly choked on air as they saw what the scene had changed into. They were on a dirt leaf littered path in a dense and dimly lit forest. Few rays of sunlight cut through the canopy, giving off a spotlight effect on their surroundings. Logan sniffed the air and strained his ears to try to smell or hear anything abnormal, but all was calm in this simulated forest.

"Anything?" Rogue asked, her voice still tense.

"No," Logan said in disbelief, his claws slowly slipping back into his hands, his posture relaxing just a bit. "It's just a forest."

"Why the hell would they put us in a forest?" Rogue asked, following Logan's lead and relaxing a little, taking in the scene around her. She had to admit that it was a gorgeous place.

"No idea," Logan shrugged. "We might as well check out what's down this way."

Rogue and Logan walked slowly down the dirt path, each contemplating their reason for being trapped in this type of simulation. It didn't seem like a combat training exercise seeing as there were no drones or cyber Mystique's coming out to try to blow them up or rip their heads off. Rogue sighed heavily, mentally shrugging. Just wait and see I guess, she thought.

"Are there any animals?" Rogue asked Logan for the sake of conversation. Logan took a deep breath.

"Yep," he grumbled. "A lot."

Rogue narrowed her eyes at him. "You don't have to be an ass." She snapped.

"This isn't exactly how I wanted to spend my day!" Logan growled deeply. Rogue realized that they'd stopped walking.

"Oh yes," Rogue hissed sarcastically. "This is _exactly_ the way I wanted to spend my goddamn day!"

Rogue noticed Logan wasn't looking directly at her, but right beside her. When she'd calmed down to realize that it was because he was actually looking at something else---not just avoiding looking at her out of spite--- she whirled around to find out what was so damn interesting.

It was two deer, a doe and a buck to be exact, just walking calmly, weaving around the trees, looking happy as could be. They didn't seem to mind the yelling. Rogue continued to look around and started to see the forest come to life right before her eyes…in pairs. She noticed two squirrels chasing one another playfully up in the tops of trees, two birds circling above them, even two foxes running and jumping gaily about. Well, Rogue thought, Jubilee was never one to be subtle.

"I think we're gonna have to work together on this one." She said, looking up at Logan, who was looking around at the wildlife, looking confused.

"You mean like a teamwork simulation?" He asked, honestly not getting the point. Rogue wanted to slap herself.

"Logan," she sighed heavily. "That is a buck and that is a doe. That is a boy fox and that is a girl fox. That is a boy bird and that is a girl bird." Rogue explained, praying that he'd understand because her patience with this whole shebang was wearing very thin.

"Oh!" Logan said in a 'I'm surprised but don't really get it' type voice. And then he thought about it. Rogue nearly laughed aloud as she saw the lights come on behind his eyes. "_Oh_.," he said as he finally got it. "Oh… shit."

………0………

"So how long do you think they'll be in there?" Kitty asked Jubilee, Storm, and Scott as they were all sitting around eating their lunches in the cafeteria.

"Oh, it shouldn't take them too terribly long to figure it out," Jubilee said flippantly, crunching into her spicy taco. "I put in a few subtle clues."

"And, even when the figure out the purpose of the simulation, they wont be able to end it anyway," Storm said, casting a stern look toward Jubilee, wondering what type of "subtle" clues she'd added into the simulation without telling anyone. "I put a timer on it. They'll have to spend one night in the forest. As soon as they awaken tomorrow, the simulation ends. They have to spend the night regardless"

"Um," Scott coughed uncomfortably. "What if they wake up in a…compromising position?"

"SCOTT!" Storm exclaimed, shocked that he'd even bring something like that up in front of Jubilee and Kitty, though it wouldn't surprise Storm if Jubilee were more experienced in the areas of sex then all of the X-Men combined.

"Well, Jubilee isn't SUBTLE!"

"That doesn't mean that they'll…"

"Well, I did add a very romantic log cabin with a big fireplace and a very rough thunderstorm…"

"JUBILEE!"

"What? You want them to sleep in the dirt?"

Needless to say, Storm had to make a minor adjustment or two to the timer. As soon as Rogue and Logan awoken and were fully dressed, the simulation would end.

………0………

"Where are we going?" Rogue muttered to herself, absently thinking out loud.

"I smell water."

"You can smell water?"

"I can smell everything."

"That must get annoying."

Rogue was bored, anxious, and this was very apparent. They had been walking in this simulated forest for almost an hour, just walking down the path hoping to stumble upon something, _anything_, that seemed like the right place to be.

To avoid the awkwardness of his latent discovery of the motives behind the simulation, Logan immediately started a fight with Rogue, trying to divert their attention elsewhere, like to their tempers and her idiotic best friends. They'd yelled and cussed at one another for a good ten minutes before they were both out of breath and had forgotten what they'd been yelling about in the first place. That was when Logan started walking.

That's how Logan kept from thinking about the reason that they were there. He walked, smelled, and he kept a look out for anything that could distract him for even a moment.

Rogue, on the other hand, was dealing with it by talking. She knew she was probably pestering Logan but she didn't much care at that point. She was confused, pissed off, upset, and nervous to boot.

"I smell a lot of water." Logan mumbled.

"Oh shut up about the water already! Just find it!"

"I'm _trying _to find it," he ground out. "It should be over this hill. I can hear running water…"

Rogue was thirsty and decided that simulated water was just what she needed. She began to run up the small hill that was in front of them, anxious to reach the other side, despite Logan's cries of protest.

"There is nothing here Logan. I keep telling you, it's not that kind of simulation." Rogue called from over her shoulder. She stood on top of the hell, her hands on her hips, looking at one of the most beautiful sites she'd ever seen in her life.

There was a waterfall cascading over the top of a ride, with a rock jutting out into the center of a large lake. The water was crystal clear and beautiful.

"I'm goin' swimmin'" Rogue announced, walking briskly toward the water.

"This ain't no time for swimmin' Rogue." Logan chastised half heartedly. "We gotta' figure out a way to get the hell out of here." But Rogue wasn't listening. He saw that she'd already taken off her gloves and was getting ready to jump in.

Rogue's body slid through the water effortlessly. The water was cool and refreshing against her skin, and when she opened her eyes underneath the water, she could see everything around her. As she surfaced she saw Logan standing near the waters edge, a smile dancing on his lips.

Rogue looked at his face and couldn't help but flash a brief smile. He was perfect in her eyes, he always had been, and no amount of time had changed that. She swam over to where he was crouched down slowly. She lifted herself up onto the rock and sat next to him, her clothes soaked. He couldn't help but notice how the wet top clung to her every curve and tried to avert his eyes.

"You should give it a try. The water feels great!"

"No thanks," he muttered. "I don't want my clothes to get…"

Rogue didn't give him a chance to finish his sentence. Split second decisions made her jump on his back and push them both into the cool water. As the surfaced, Rogue was almost choking from laughing so hard. Logan pushed his hair out of his face and gives Rogue a mock glare.

"All my cigars are wet!" He exclaims, pulling the soggy and now useless contents from the inside of his jacket pocket.

"Good," Rogue laughs, twisting around to float on her back. "I hate the smell of those things anyway."

"Good huh?" Logan growls, and lunges for Rouge in the water. They begin a tiny water fight, dunking one another, splashing, and laughing until they both think they just may drown. Until Logan's hand nearly brushes the side of Rogue's face.

"Logan, my skin!" Rogue exclaims, swimming toward the shallow end of the lake. She stands in the waste deep water, panting, trying to keep the panic down that was rising in her chest. Logan slowly swims over to the shallow end and stands up, not getting too close to Rogue's trembling form.

Logan didn't know what to say. He remembered what Charles had told him about her wanting him to be the first person to touch her since she'd gained control. If that was true, then why was she freaking out? Was Charles wrong? No, mind readers can't be wrong, Logan reasoned.

"Rogue…" Logan began wading closer to her, and she lifted her eyes to meet his, her face now fully composed. And that was when they heard the first rumbles of thunder.

"It's gonna storm." Rogue muttered, straightening up and willing herself to stop shaking.

Logan sniffed the air. It's gonna be one hell of a storm, he thought. He could already smell the electricity in the air.

"Let's get out of this lake. It's gonna start lightning," he suggested. They scrambled out of the lake as they began to feel the first sprinkles of rain on their faces.

"What are we gonna do?" Rogue yelled, running for her gloves and putting them on quickly. It didn't take long for the rain to start pouring down. The thunder was so loud that Rogue could of sworn that she felt the ground shake.

"Hurry, lets go down the path a little ways more and see what we see. Surely they didn't stick us in the middle of a thunderstorm without some sort of protection!" Logan grabbed Rogue's hand and they raced down what was once a dirt path. Rogue nearly slipped and fell in the nearly ankle deep mud and she silently cursed her two best friends.

"Look!" Logan shouted, pointing about a yard away at what seemed to be a small house. The window was aglow with a warm light that Logan knew to be fire light.

They ran excitedly the rest of the way until they came to the steps of a beautiful log cabin. Rogue barely had time to register the large wraparound front porch before Logan began jerking her up the stairs.

"Let's get in there, it's freezing," he grumbled. He was really going to kill Scott and Storm for this.

They stepped up onto the front porch, grateful to be out of the stinging rain. Logan and Rogue gave one another questioning looks, neither sure if they really wanted to enter this cabin or not.

"You go first." Logan suggested.

"Me? No way, you go. You're bigger."

"It was your friend's idea in the first place!"

"Prove it."

They were at a standstill. Finally, Rogue took a deep breath and reached for the doorknob. The reason they didn't want to enter the cabin wasn't out of fear of what could be inside. It was because they both knew why that cabin was there in the first place. This was their friend's way of forcing them to come to terms with the way that they felt for one another. They had both tap-danced around the issue so much that they just didn't know how to approach it. Neither one of them wanted things to go back to the way they were when Logan had first arrived at the mansion after all those years of being gone. Rogue was afraid to let her guard down and allow Logan into her heart because she didn't want to be hurt again. Logan was afraid that Rogue would decide against the whole ordeal, afraid of rejection.

Rogue began to turn the doorknob when she saw Logan place a hand over her gloved one.

"We're in this together…no matter what happens." Logan said softly. Rogue looked up into his amber eyes and smiled.

"No matter what happens," She repeated, and they both opened the door just as darkness fell upon them.

………0………

"So, they should be in the cabin by now." Jubilee said at the dinner table. It had just gotten dark outside and that was when Jubilee had planned for the storm to start getting pretty nasty.

"Logan's gonna' rip you limb from limb when they get out of there." Bobby said to Jubilee, chewing on a piece of chicken.

"Rogue's gonna' use you two for target's in her archery class." Pete added, digging into his dinner.

"Or they'll both thank us for our brilliant intervention!" She declared dramatically.

"I just hope they don't both murder us in our sleep." Kitty muttered.

"Oh, if ole' Wolvie has his boxers in a bunch he'll take it out on Scott, not us. Now Rogue…well, we may have to move her out of our room before she comes back…maybe we should put her junk in the Wolverine's room!"

"NO!" Shouted Kitty, Pete, and Bobby at the same time.

"What? You don't think it's a good idea?"

"NO!"

………0………

"Wow, this storm's lookin' pretty bad." Logan called to Rogue from the bathroom that he had stumbled upon while exploring the cabin. They had let themselves in and found themselves inside of a cozy warm place. They walked into a large living area with a beautiful fireplace in its center, a fire roaring inside. They discovered a cozy little bedroom in the room next to the living area, a kitchen, and a small bathroom in which Logan was in search of towels.

"Doesn't look like it's gonna be lettin' up." Logan said, walking back into the living room and handing Rogue a towel. They were standing on a gorgous fur rug that was placed just in front of the hearth. Rogue felt badly for dripping water all over it, but then she remembered that it was only a simulation…

"It's too bad this isn't real." Rogue mused, toweling her hair a little. "This is the type of place I've always pictured myself in."

"Really?" Logan cocked an eyebrow. "I guess that shouldn't surprise me out of a Southern Belle like yourself." Rogue swatted him with the towel.

"I'm serious! I've told Jubilee and Kitty a million times that I wanted to live in a small log cabin someday. That's probably why they added this to the simulation…" Rogue looked up at Logan. She'd never told her two friends that every time she'd ever pictured herself in her cabin, she'd always pictured Logan in it with her. "It's too bad this isn't real." Rogue muttered again, continuing to towel her hair and watch the fire intently.

Logan had peeled off his flannel shirt and had slung it over the shower curtain to dry. He stood there in his white undershirt, tight jeans, and socks (they'd taken their muddy shoes off before entering the cabin) and Rogue wanted nothing else except to reach up and touch his face. Their eyes met again, Rogue so stunned by the look of longing and love burning deep within his eyes that she dropped her towel. She bent immediately for it but Logan had already bent down to retrieve it. He bundled both of their towels together and tossed them aside, not paying attention where they landed.

"Rogue…Marie… look at me," Logan's voice was soft and deep, a tone Rogue hadn't heard in so long. She couldn't help but look at him. "Touch me…" He whispered. Rogue shook her head.

"I can't Logan…what if I…"

"You won't," he shook his head. "I trust you Marie. And I need you to trust me." Rogue continued to shake her head. "I want to be the first…no, the only man you ever touch Marie."

Rogue's eyes went to his face and then down to her still gloved hands. She wanted Logan to be her first, she always had, but things were so different now. She wasn't that young girl that she once had been. But she loved him, and she knew in her hearts of hearts that he felt the same way too.

Rogue took a deep breath and began to slowly peel the gloves away from her hands. She handed them to Logan who in turn tossed them in the same direction that he had discarded the towels. She held her hands out in front of her, the firelight giving them an orange glow. They were small hands with dainty looking fingers, but they were also strong hands, and Logan knew what those beautiful hands were capable of. They had broken his nose, after all.

"Please Marie…" Logan whispered his voice full of wanting. "I won't touch you until you ask me to… I'll take it as slow as you want. Just one touches Marie…"

Rogue's hands were shaking as they reached toward his face. She hesitated for a moment before gingerly touching the sides of Logan's face. He closed his eyes, reveling in the softness of her skin. Her fingers roamed as if memorizing every inch of his face. Logan gasped as he felt her thumb trace his lips.

It took all of his will power to keep his arms at his sides and not reach for her. He didn't want to scare here away, but he longed to touch the rest of that soft pale skin.

Rogue's hands began to travel down Logan's neck. He let his head fall back, enjoying the sensations running through him. Her hands left his neck and slid down his chest and stomach and began to tug at the bottom of his undershirt. He lifted his arms and she slipped the shirt off his body, and then ran her hands down his broad muscular chest. She was amazed at how good his rough skin could feel.

Rogue began to walk around Logan, touching his upper and lower back, causing him to shiver. When her hands had thoroughly explored his back, she stood in front of him, running her hands down the length of his arms until they reached his hands.

Their hands were so different. Hers small, pale, and delicate looking and his large, calloused, and dangerous. And yet as she laced their fingers together they found that their hands were a perfect fit for one another.

"I'm scared Logan." Rogue whispered, almost angry with her feelings for betraying her.

"I am too Marie…" Logan admitted, nearly chuckling. Rogue gave him a questioning look. He sighed. "I'm afraid I won't be able to give you everything that you deserve. I'm a man with no past. I have no idea what I've done, who I was, or why I've wound up here… but I thank the stars every day that I picked you up on the side of that road, even though you were just an annoying snotty nosed kid then." Rogue smiled and shook her head.

"Then why did you leave me Logan? Why did you ever leave me?" Her voice was shaking, tears threatening to escape her eyes.

"I was a damn idiot, that's why." Logan told her about Mystique appearing to him in his tent, and of the feelings that it had stirred inside him. "You were with pop-sickle boy, and I thought you were better of without me trying to complicate your life. You were still in high school, for Christ's sake." Rogue nodded.

"I understand now… I suppose it would have been impossible for you to stay then… but I still want you to know," Rogue took a deep breath. "That I loved you then, as young as I was; I loved you more than anything." And then, for the first time in a very long time, Marie came bursting through the walls, and spoke three magical words to Logan for the first time. "And I love you now. I love you."

"And I love you. I swear, I'm never going to leave you again… not ever Marie."

"Kiss me Logan," Marie said. "Please kiss me."

Logan moved a hand to her hair and a hand around her waste, her placing her hands on his chest, letting him pull her toward him. He ran his hand through her hair, inching closer and closer to her, until finally their lips were only an inch apart. Marie closed the gap, and their lips met, finally, for the first time.

Kissing Logan felt like taking a breath she'd been holding. She felt as if she'd been under water all these years, and now finally, she was resurfacing. Logan's kiss was surprisingly soft and tender, and as he deepened his kiss, Marie knew she was done for.

They laid down on the rug in front of the fireplace, Marie praying that even if the cabin wasn't real, she prayed that the love they were about to make would be real. And it was real. The most real thing either of them had ever felt.

………0………

Daylight shone through the windows of the cabin, casting shadows on the two forms still lying in front of the fireplace. The fire had long stopped burning but the warmth it had emitted still lingered throughout the cabin. Marie awoke first, having to think twice about where she was, until she saw Logan's sleeping form next to her. He had an arm slung lazily over her stomach, a smile dancing on his sleeping lips. Marie smiled reaches over, and pushed some hair out of his face.

"Morning," he half muttered, half slurred.

"Good morning," she smiled. He leaned up and planted a sloppy kiss onto her shoulder before stretching.

"I guess we better get dressed and find out how to get out of this." Logan said gruffly, knowing that neither he nor Marie wanted to leave this Heaven that they had found.

"Yeah," Marie sighed heavily, letting Logan help her off the floor. "I wish we didn't have to though."

"That makes the two of us darlin'. Now, where did my pants get off to…"

The two took their time dressing, wanting to prolong leaving as much as possible. They knew that as soon as they figured out how to end the simulation that they would have to face the people that trapped them there, them probably knowing everything that had transpired there.

"So…what happens now?" Marie asked as they both approached the front door.

"What do you want to happen?" Logan asked, almost afraid of her answer.

"I don't want you to leave!"

"Marie, I swear I'll never leave you again." Logan pulled her into his arms and kissed her forehead tenderly.

"So…we're a couple?" She asked. It was strange, thinking of Logan being anyone's boyfriend, nevertheless hers.

"Yeah," Logan laughed. "I guess we are." Marie smiled.

"I like the sound of that." Marie purred, leaning up to give Logan one last kiss before they left their cabin. After they broke the kiss, the put their hands on the doorknob and turned it together.

Whatever they were to face on the other side of the door, they would face together, just as they would face their lives from now on. They knew that they were in it for the long hall, and that they were never gong to leave one another's sides again. They were in it together no matter what.

THE END

**Authors Note: YAY, we're done! So, leave me lots of love, and beg me for another story! I've got another idea in the works. I think it will be much better than this story! Its been an honor writing this story for ya'll, and I really hope you enjoy this final chapter. Thank you all for all the reviews and support you've shown me. I hope you'll all come back and read future fics!**


	11. Chapter 11 Playlist

**Authors Note:**

**Hi. I know this says complete but I had to do this while I was thinking about it. **

**Yah know how every movie usually has a soundtrack? Well, I think that books/stories/fanfics should also because don't lie and say that during certain scenes of the story you don't hear music. So, here is a little playlist that I've put together for my story! I recommend reading the chapter that goes along with the song and see if you think it matches!!!!! **

**1. Never Too Late-Three Days Grace**

**2. It's Not Over-Daughtry**

**3. Animal I Have Become-Three Days Grace**

**4. Love Hurts- Incubus**

**5. What's Left of Me- Nick Lachey**

**6. Tired of You- The Exies**

**7. Stand My Ground- Within Temptation**

**8. How To Save A Life- The Fray**

**9. You and Me-Lifehouse**

**10. Iris-Goo Goo Dolls**


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